Beast Prince
by BlitzBlazer13
Summary: Semi self insert OC main character. A young, aspiring wizard arrives at the infamous guild's doorstep with a bandaged arm. From there, he becomes friends with the Strauss family, particularly Elfman, after wanting to learn Takeover. Watch as this man-in-training experiences the main events of the series. Starts from Daybreak Arc. Nalu, GaLe, ElfEver, Mira X OC.
1. An Eternal Adventure Begins

Greetings! This is my semi self-insert story focusing on the young Rai Bluzen (That's not my real name btw). This is a first time effort for me so please be mindful of that whilst reading. Please be fair with criticism as I really want to make this adventure better for both me and the readers.

Disclaimer: I do not Fairy Tail or any of its characters.

Possible Ships: Nalu, Gale, Elfgreen (I'm refusing to say EverMan lol), Mira X OC

Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 1 – An Eternal Adventure Begins

Hi! My name is Rai Bluzen, a 16 year old aspiring wizard born and raised in a merchants town a few days walk from Magnolia (I would tell you the name, but my memory dosent feel like working with me on that subject).

Ever since I was a little tyke, magic was always a fascinating practise I wanted to use for myself, its always finding itself into our daily lives so its proved itself as a great hobby for me to invest interest into.

The population of wizards in the kingdom of Fiore is constantly growing, both good and bad, despite this I rarely find myself being troubled by the rumored dark guilds. "They're too scared to mess with me" is what I want to think even though I fully know I wouldn't last a second in a fight with them. Don't let the happy-go-lucky persona I seem to have set up so far fool you, I have a worringly severe inferiority complex going on in my brain, if you ever met me then all you have to do to depress me is to compare me with someone stronger, faster and smarter than me.

Im not completely useless though, I utilise a magic which allows me to summon creatures and animals I've tamed. I know what you're thinking, I know some of my arsenal are personal pets, however, I have managed to tame some forbiddible wildlife: a bear, a giant snake with a deadly venom, a giant hawk to help with transport if I'm feeling lazy and my pride and joy is a forest vulcan. As I need practising my magical energy, I keep all these animals in special vials named "Soul Prisons", well I find that name kinda barbaric so I personally call them "Soul Shelters" (Obviously these were quite expensive). In order to afford more to expand my arsenal, I've decided to finally enlist at a wizards guild, these are very exciting times.

For what guild I've chosen to go to, well I kind of had a bit of an addiction to Sorcerer Magazine (I swear I wasn't reading it for the photo spreads). They've heavily enlightened me on the world of magic, including information about a certain guild called "Fairy Tail". It said a lot of wild and entertaining stuff on them and that they're very capable. The one article I read was about them defeating a bandit clan, but somehow managed to destroy several public buildings along with them (talk about overdoing it!). I know for sure I'll become a great wizard under their wing (their fairy wing in this case).

So here I am, in the prosperous city of Magnolia. Seeing the fabled guild ahead of me, I strolled down the cobble-paved road with the burning sun making my azure eyes sparkle.

I dressed in my favourite outfit for this occasion: Jet black tracksuit trousers with a blue line running down the sides, fastened by a blue leather belt which also stored my Soul Shelters and other emergency supplies, blue sneakers with black laces and white soles, blue socks with pictures of adorable wolves on them, a short blue t-shirt, a blue and black checkered jacket with a fuzzy, fur hood and finally I was wearing a silver medalion shaped like awolf howling into the wind. My hair was black with a heavy blue tint, particularly resonating on the edges and was both spiked up yet messy. Did I mention I like blue?

The guild towered over me, even the main doors looked unneccesarily huge. Three banners adorned the peak, with the Fairy Tail logo in the middle one (at least I hope its that one). To be honest, Im shocked at myself for taking an hour to find this place, how on earth land did I not notice it, its practically a mountain considering where it's based.

Now that I just remembered (stupid memory), a reason I came to Fairy Tail out of all places at this specific time was my right arm. I know right, how does an arm affect you enlisting as a wizard? Well two years ago, I was majorly hurt by a vicious beast which violently slashed my right arm, I would have died if it wasn't for me narrowly dodging the attack and fleeing to save my life straight after. Ever since, I occasionly had brief bursts of pain which showed my arm as the very same beast which crippled me. I theorised that my arm was its own Soul Shelter and if i was capable I could actually wield the monster's arm.

Now onto why Fairy Tail. In an issue of Sorcerer Magazine, the spotlight was on a girl named "Mirajane Strauss of Fairy Tail" ( I imagine her actual name dosen't have the guild's name in it). Apparently, she was formerly known as the "She-Devil", meaning she can take on the form of a demon. Since she uses transformation magic, I'm hoping that she can help me either alleviate the "curse" from my arm or help me be able to control it if it can't be cured.

Back to entering the guild. I approached the giant entrance. Being my nervous self, I knocked loudly on the doors being too scared to enter myself (I for some reason treated it like a saloon, this isnt the Wild West myself!). Then I finally realised the noise resonating inside the building, I tried knocking again. Waiting for someone to answer, a tall ,white-haired man walked up behind me.

He was wearing a black, buttoned jacket with matching trousers, oddly he was wearing wooden sandals (I prefered trainers myself). He had a really bad scar running from his right eye and down his cheek . He definitely seemed like a serious, intimidating, high-up kind of person.

"What're you doing outside our guild?" the man asked me. _Our?_ He must be a Fairy Tail wizard then, he looks built up for a wizard.

I answered back "I'm wishing to sign up as a member, im just a bit too scared to go in, it's a first time for me to be doing something this momentous." I chuckled nervously.

"There's a first time for all of us, just man up already! Im going inside anyway, I just finished a job." He proceeds past me towards the entrance. I noticed the black guild mark printed on his neck.

"Wait! Since you're a Fairy Tail wizard, do you know someone called…." I quickly grabbed the page with the woman that I ripped out of one of the magazine issues. I read the name slowly "Mirajane Strauss?"

He replied "My sister? What does a young man like you want with her?"

"Sister?!" I said with a dumbfounded look on my face. I was mildly taken back by that new piece of info. I wonder if he uses the same magic as her since he's in the same family. "Ummm, I thought I could talk to her about something important." I whimpered awkwardly.

"Like what?" he replied. I think I can trust him, despite his appearance he does seem like a reliable person. He is a part of Fairy Tail after all.

"My arm, I just wanted her to have a look at it, do you wanna look?" I questioned timidly.

"Sure" I pulled up my sleeve to reveal the bandaged wound. The man seemed majorly concerned. "What the hell happened to you?" He enquired.

"I was attacked by a monster two years ago during my travels, ever since I've been experiencing brief moments of extreme pain, can you help fix it? You use the same magic as Mirajane, right?" At that moment I seemed desperate for help, like a beggar you would find on the streets.

"Well yeah, mine's slightly different to hers though." I wimpered in temporary dissapointment. At that moment, I dropped to the floor in agony. I gritted my teeth, trying not to scream in pain. A shroud of purple darkness emanated from the my damaged limb. Gripping it, I felt some areas were harder than my normal skin, almost like scales to velvet. I threw out my arm for the man to examine it.

"Just look at it!" I demanded bossily.

"Come on, Im taking you to the master!" He picked me up in his huge arms. He then kicked open the door to the infamous guild. At least I was finally in it. I was forcing my eyes closed to deal with the pain. "Master Makarov! This man needs medical attention!" I heard him cry out in desperation.

Why now? This was such a horrible time for it to happen, it has a mind of its own sometimes. My back lied on a wooden surface, muffled voices echoed around me, most likely from the man and the supposed "Master" of the guild. My eyelids felt like iron doors refusing to open.

Next thing I know, I'm lying in a hospital bed, the pillow and the sheets felt like heaven. I ached sitting up, giving a slight groan. The man was sitting opposite me on a little chair which surprisingly held his huge stature. "How you feeling?" He asked.

"Better than before, what happened?"

"Master Makarov had to temporarily lessen your magical power by performing healing magic on your arm, you'll be fine in no time. You gave us quite the manly scare didn't you?"

"Yeah" I chuckled to relieve the stress. "So whats wrong with it then?"

"You unknowingly used the magic of Takeover, the same magic that me and my sister uses, it allows you to possess the body of a living thing that you've encountered. The pains you experience, that was you trying to perform the magic without the magical energy to support it, therefore causing the power of the original beast to overcharge your arm." I felt so angry at myself, I was too weak to perform such basic levels of the magic. "There's no need to be so down on yourself, considering you haven't mastered the magic, being able to conjure the same power as the beast that maimed you, that's very manly of you." He's right, I shouldn't bring myself down like this, I can learn to finally control this strength I have.

"Thanks for the help, I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there." I said gratefully.

"Don't mention it, just helping out a man in need, and thank the master instead, he did all the hard work" He grinned goofily. I just noticed the amount of times he's managed to squeeze the word "man" into his sentences. "Oh yeah, I never got your name." he questioned.

"I'm Rai, Rai Bluzen" I replied.

"Elfman" What a cute sounding name, seriously didn't suit him but I didn't mind. "So, are you coming with me back to the guild then?" He politely offered.

"Sure, let me just get ready." I reached down my back expecting a backpack. I froze up in shock. "Where's my stuff?!" I frantically looked around my bed. Elfman held something in front of me in a teasing fashion with a devious grin on his face. "Give it back!" I fall of the bed trying to grab my stuff, with the white-haired brute laughing over me.

"Not until you give me a manly apology for causing me all that trouble" he teased. I sighed, knowing I couldn't take him on in a fight to recover my supplies.

"Fine, I'm sorry" giving up to his demands. I knew he was joking, so I gave a goofy smile after the apology, he replied with the same expression.

"Here you go." Chucking the backpack at me, I hooked it around my uninjured arm, he left the hospital so I could get changed into my normal clothes (normal being blue). Despite the predicament I suffered, I still felt confident with going back to the guild. The next time I'm entering, I'm becoming a full-fledged wizard.

I met Elfman again outside the hospital wing, ready to go. "You know I still haven't returned the job, right?" he said smiling.

"Well I still haven't enlisted yet, lets go then!" I joyfully enquired. Even though I was just in a hospital bed a couple minutes ago, I felt better than ever.

We both stood outside the guild, my timidness from before seemed to have vanished. I gave a big breath, preparing myself for anything to happen. I didn't see what the guild or the members looked like since I was basically asleep the first time (I didn't really set a good example, did I?).

Pushing boths door, they slowly opened. A short female with blue hair noticed me out of the corner of her eye. "Hey! It's the newcomer!" she proclaimed to the entire guild, I would feel embarassed in this kind of situation but I felt flattered. Everyone in the guild started to look at me. A huge banner dropped from the ceiling, simultaneously with the party poppers and people chanting what was written on it.

" **Welcome to Fairy Tail** "

I honestly felt like crying tears of joy, but that would be extremely embarassing. _So Elfman must have told everyone I was joining._ A white-haired woman in a red dress approached me. "Hey sis." Elfman said to her. "This little guy saw you in Sorcerer Weekly" I snapped my vision towards him with rosy blushes on my cheek. The woman simply chuckled.

"Oh, hello Mira" I immediately added, she looked slightly different to the picture I saw of her.

"Hello" She greeted with cuteness in her voice. "Where would you like your guild mark?" She kindly asked. I peeked up at Elfman, noticing where his guild mark was.

"The left side of the neck in blue please." I felt so proud as she printed the symbol onto the chosen area.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail" she cheered adorably. I thanked her purely out of the positivity she was filling me with. I felt Elfman's hand rest on my shoulder and looked up at him, we both nodded at each other. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone." She beamed a smile at me. I gladly went off with her, along with her brother.

From this point on, I am now a Fairy Tail wizard!

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This first chapter is extra long compared to the future chapters since I wanted to make this a sorta pilot. Apologies for having short chapters compared to other OC stories.

I wanted to have my OC use Takeover like the Strauss family as it is my favourite magic in FT, I wish there were more OCs which use this magic lol.

You may have noticed I'm making my OC buddies with Elfman, I'm certainly making them have a brotherly/mentor relationship together, I can't wait to show you what's in store for them.

I hope you enjoyed my first story, here's to wishing Rai good luck on his journey.

\- Blitz


	2. The Guild of Fairies

**Hello again! I have written some chapters in advance for now just so I don't fall behind on my 1 chapter per/1 or 2 weeks schedule.**

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Chapter 2 – The Guild of Fairies

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There was such a wide range of people in the guild, I knew I would get along with at least someone during my time here. Mira first showed me to the girl who called my name earlier. "I'm Levy Mcgarden, nice to meet someone new. The two guys behind me are Jet and Droy." She was a smart-looking yet beautiful girl with several books in various languages spread across her table. Jet and Droy both greeted me in unison.

"I'm Rai Bluzen, nice to meet you all" I replied positively. I tried to not talk much to avoid disturbing her as she was probably busy with studying.

After leaving Levy, Elfman mentioned his thoughts about her. "She's sweet and all, but a real man dosen't study, especially not as much as her" He said with a gruntled face, I replied with a awkward chuckle and a sweat drop on my forehead. _He does know Levy's a girl, right?_

"Oh, you _like_ her, don't you? I replied in a teasing fashion, his face blushed in embarassment. "I was right then." Taking advantage of his rosy cheeks, I felt bad for him, I shouldn't be teasing people on these kind of things.

"Hmph, whatever, I'm heading off to get my reward, see you in a bit" I gave my farewell straightafter.

The next highlight was an ice wizard named Gray Fullbuster, who was strangely half naked but acted like it was nothing (I wish I could be that confident in public), until a heavy drinker called Cana informed him of his missing clothes. I just chuckled to prevent being awkward. The ice wizard remarked "I need to head off soon, stuff to do".

"Your clothes are gone again." Cana replied, causing Gray to act embarassed. Before leaving them to themselves, I said it was wonderful meeting them.

"Interesting bunch of wizards you have here" I said to Mira.

"I know, but they're all kind people, you'll fit right in with that lovely personality of yours." I felt so heart-warmed by that comment.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me." I replied. I sure do hope I fit in, otherwise this won't be a fun experience.

After meeting all of the members of the guild (well, at least the ones that were here), I was shown to the request board where all the jobs were posted. Mira informed me of the different types of jobs offered in the guild. "There's escorting, bandit clearing, monster slaying and all sorts on this board, all with varying rewards for the wizard who proves helpful."

I was wondering about the difficulty of the jobs, as I wanted an easy one at first. Mira added "These jobs are ones that most people in the guild are capable of completing, but there is another request board on the second floor with jobs called " _S-Class Quests_ ". Only a few wizards are qualified for these jobs as they are extremely dangerous but offer a high reward in exchange." I felt slightly intimidated, but I guess that's what a lot of people are like with something new.

At this point I only just noticed the short, old man sitting on the bar next to the request board. "That's the master of the guild, Makarov." Mira informed me. I was slightly shocked but I still acted in a respectful fashion, knowing he was most likely extremely powerful.

"Thanks for healing me earlier" being grateful to the master.

"No problem, I take responsibility for all the members in the guild, congratulations on becoming a Fairy Tail wizard." He replied, being modest. I was expecting a slightly more strict attiude from him, but he still seemed like a great master. " Are you taking a job then?" He questioned.

"Oh, well I was considering this escort mission, but it dosen't have a good reward, its only 500 jewel. I have next to no money at the moment."

(Author's note: It was officially stated by the story's owner, Hiro Mashima, that the currency in this world is identical to yen. 100 jewel = 1 US dollar approx.)

Elfman approached me with some money. "Just returned the job from earlier, 20000 jewel, no problem for a man like me," He said to me. I slowly walked to the corner of the guild hall and slumped to the ground with my arms hugging my knees, giving a depressed moan. (purple anime lines swiggled above my head). "I was gonna give you some of it as a manly welcome gift." He added. I immediately sprung back up with positivity and found myself back in front of him in a quick second. The amount he gifted was 5000 jewel, which was more than enough to last me another few weeks.

"Thanks, you're awesome" I replied thankfully, putting the change in my blue wallet which I kept handy in my trouser pocket.

"Don't let the reward amount get to you, a real man takes jobs no matter what the reward is." Elfman encouraged me. Im still surprised by how kind he actually is, when I first met him I thought he was going to beat me up or something. Thinking back on it, I was being a little stupid. Giving the escort job more thought, I came to my decision.

"Fine, I'll do it then. My first job." I answered back. Mira also joined in the conversation.

"If you want, you can team up with other members in the guild, wizards normally take jobs in groups to ensure success." She offered Levy as a possible pairing.

"No its fine, I want to do my first job alone if thats ok." I politely refused. I wanted to see if I can handle an easy job by myself first. I prepped my stuff before setting off, noticing the spaces in my belt allocated for Soul Shelters were empty.

"I forgot to give these vial things earlier, what are they exactly?" Elfman questioned, handing the crystal clear containers to me.

"I'm a holder-type wizard, those vials store the souls of the animals I've tamed so I can use them for combat. They aren't that powerful but I do have a forest vulcan in my possession." I said proudly yet modestly.

"Never heard of a man using that magic before, I think another newcomer called Lucy uses a magic like that." Elfman wondered. I'm curious of who this Lucy person is. "Besides, a real man fights with his fists!" He proclaimed unproportionately loud, with an animated picture of a sakura tree behind him, leaving me with a dumbfounded expression. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Is that so?" I implied with sarcasm. I grabbed my navy blue backpack from the bar I was resting it on. "Well, I'm heading off then. See ya!" I said waving back at the Strauss siblings. Close to the entrance, I heard Mira's voice in the background. I froze in place so I can concentrate on listening to it.

"You do know where you're going right?" Mira enquired. I was so excited about the whole thing that I skimmed through the job request. I awkwardly pulled out the folded parchment from my pocket.

"Oshibana, I'm escorting someone back to this town." I answered.

"Ah, good that you know then" She chuckled with a cute expression on her face. After that she started talking to her brother, who was holding something in his hand, it was probably him discussing sharing the reward money with her. I continued walking out of the guild.

Standing outside the guild, this time a member of the wizarding world, I took a deep breath of the clean air and set off on my first job, bag on back, prepped for battle. Even though the reward was small, the sense of accomplishment after finishing it won't be.

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Continued in Chapter 3 " **A Certain Creature"**

 **Just to introduce Rai to the other guild members (well, most of them, cough Natsu cough).**

 **I kinda want to get Rai together with Mira or Levy, both of them go with him so well. I know, I'm evil like that. I need to find Elfman a romantic friend for now before you-know-who shows up later on.**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it!**


	3. A Certain Creature

**Whew! First mission! Just a simple one for now since I don't want to torture myself with writing really in-depth ones.**

 **I've been really happy with the support this story is getting so far. Thanks!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Chapter 3 – A Certain Creature

Oshibana Town: Not as huge as Magnolia, but still had the same busyness and quaintness as the home of my guild. It was closer to home than I thought it was. I only spent an hour flying on my hawk. The request stated I was meeting the client at a certain house on the outer edge of the town.

It was a modest house, not too shabby but not too glamorous either. I knocked on the wooden door. A man dressed in a tuxedo answered the call (a bit overdressed); I showed him the request sheet he posted. "I'm the wizard who accepted your escort mission" I said sternly trying to act overly serious.

"Ah, thanks for turning up, I need you to help me transport my business stock to Magnolia." The client informed me.

"OK, I just came from there, I'm with Fairy Tail. I've got a hawk that can get us there easily in no time." The man shook his head.

"No, we mustn't travel via air, I've been targeted by bandits trying to steal my stock before, we would be noticed by flying. I want you to take me through the East Forest." Wow this guy was bossy (If he would have said that on the request, I wouldn't mind this). Oh well, disagreeing with what he wanted would just screw up the job.

Me and the businessman sorted out the carriage and set off into the forest. I felt a sense of eagerness and anxiety mixing inside me.

We made our way through the forest slowly but surely, I was fascinated by the wildlife spread throughout this scenic route. I never really went through the East Forest before; I always took the beaten road as it was quicker. I appreciated my surroundings but made sure to not get side-tracked off looking for potential threats.

For some reason I felt uneasy, knowing what the client's situation was, we could run into a whole band of thieves or even a dark guild for all we know. However, I knew that the client picked this route for safety reasons.

I was wondering what business the client was involved in, I couldn't really tell by the stock we sorted out, he even covered it up with a tarp. "So, what's the stock for?" I nervously questioned.

"I run a general store chain with one of the branches being based in Magnolia, since there's been a lot of trouble going on around there and my employees are too scared to deliver there, I've had to deliver the stock myself. Obviously I needed the protection as I'm the owner of the business." Well, at least I knew why he posted the job, it's a bit of a jerk move to only offer 500 jewel for a protection job, but his business is in trouble so it's forgivable.

Suddenly, I started feeling minor vibrations pulsing through my body. At first, I thought it was my arm again, but there was absolutely no change. The next thought I had was a giant monster ready to ambush us. I more sensitive to this kind of stuff, so I informed the client to keep cautious and look out for any monsters.

Then, a monster came crashing through the thick trees. A hundred feet away from us, I started dashing towards it to halt its charge. "Be careful!" the client cried. I reached for one of my vials and whipped it out of its socket. " _Soul Shelter: Steel Rhino_!" The soul of the pronounced monster flowed out of the vial and formed together to create a creature stampeding in front of me. The rhino was a metallic grey, with multiple studs marked over its body, mostly on its face and back. The summoned beast leapt up from the earth to collide with the wild monster's rampage, slowing it to a halt.

Recalling the monster back to its container, I managed to get a better look at the monster. It was a forest vulcan!

"Well, hello again" I said to the monster, knowing that they could talk (albeit not well).

"FOOD!" the creature droned in a mighty voice. So that was what the sacks had in them. My knowledge about this animal reminded me that it has enhanced smell; they could smell food from surprisingly far distances.

"I have just the thing for you!" I announced with a smug grin on my face. Reaching for my forest vulcan Soul Shelter. "HUH?!" It wasn't there! "Crap! Where is it?! Did I drop it?!" I desperately checked every pocket in my clothes and my backpack. I needed to dodge several of the monster's attacks in order to do this. The vulcan started laughing in his deep voice just like the monkey it really is. At least it teaches me a lesson for being too cocky. "Stop mocking me! I've beaten one of your kind without it before, I'll do it again!" I hastily proclaimed, letting the monster's laughter get to me.

"Just try then!" The monster replied.

"Get back!" I yelled to the client, the job was to protect him after all, " _Soul Shelter: Rock Bear_!" It burst out of the ground to attack the vulcan from behind, immobilizing it. This is the very monster that defeated a vulcan before. The bear was a brownish colour with multiple cracks in its "fur", almost like it was made up by the earth itself. "You're so screwed now! This is my next strongest beast at my disposal!" I felt overwhelmed with confidence, normally I tend to not resort to violence. However, I have no remorse for monsters who threaten me.

Then, the vulcan started to enter a state of intense rage, easily shrugging off my companion. "What the heck?! This one is stronger than the vulcan I defeated!" I would have to try and use my hawk to fly around and confuse it, and then I can land the final blow before it goes out of control. " _Soul Shelter: Jet Hawk_!" I leapt up into the air; landing on my beast's back, zooming around the mad monster. The bird was a greyish colour, with blue and black streaks spanning its entire body. It also had a grey mohawk. My attempt to daze the vulcan wasn't being very effective so I decided to fly above the monster and deliver a concentrated hit on its head to knock it out.

Whilst soaring upwards, I released my grip on the hawk and started skydiving. I recalled my hawk to its shelter and summoned the rock bear soul, focusing its attack on the head. This has to finish it off; my magical energy is starting to drain. Fortunately, the vulcan was just confused enough to not be aware of my current position. I let out a mighty shout, punching the monster along with my fellow spirit. The power of the punch caused the monkey to buckle over its own weight, crashing to the ground with a giant bump on his cranium.

I landed safely on the stomach of the very creature I defeated, exasperated of energy but still managing to throw myself off the beast. "You OK over there?" I shouted to the client, who was hiding a couple of feet away behind a tree. He nodded positively but went back to hiding. I don't blame him.

Now that I defeated the vulcan, I thought I could capture its soul to replace the one I lost. "Thank goodness I brought a few spares just in case." I said pulling out a Soul Shelter. However, when I attempted the retrieval, the monster wasn't disappearing into the vial. I manically started smacking the glass container to get it working. "Oh come on! Don't tell me this was a faulty one. And I used some of Elfman's money on them too. Oh well, I'll just continue escorting the poor guy."

That moment, a sharp, deadly pain dug itself into my right side. I was sent flying into a nearby tree, my back colliding with the wood. Blood escaped from my mouth and the wound from the surprise attack. My vision was slightly blurry from me hitting my head as well. I slumped lifelessly onto the ground, with my arms holding the injury. Growls of anger surrounded my eardrums, with the vulcan approaching to finish me off.

My first mission and also my last from the looks of it, I couldn't understand why this particular creature was acting so unorthodox compared to its species.

This can't be how it ends right?

Feeling a familiar sensation, I peered at my right arm. The light beaming from it seemed different than before, almost like I was invited to see it. Bandages started to drift off the arm, revealing the skin. It was shifting into a brownish red colour, which heavily reminded me of the beast which injured me two years ago. Afterwards, Elfman's words echoed through my mind. "You unknowingly used the magic of Takeover, it allows you to possess the body of a living thing that you've encountered."

I just thought of a great idea. Even for my standards...

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Continued in Chapter 4 " **Beast Arm** "

 **Finally some action lol. I made Rai more of a tactician more than a fighter, but he isn't a complete wimp when his life depends on it.**

 **Sorry to end it on such a cliff-hanger. You'll just have to wait till the next one.**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions.**

 **Until then, farewell!**


	4. Beast Arm

**Sorry for the wait.**

 **Took me a while to write this chapter compared to the others, been busy and stuff. Well at least it's finally done.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Enjoy!**

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 **Chapter 4 – Beast Arm**

Pain flowed from my thigh to my arm, yet the limb felt like heaven compared to the attack from earlier. I gripped my glowing limb tightly to cope with the pain, most of my body trembling from the physical earthquake I endured.

The plan I concocted was to use rock bear to burrow me underground (it is a ground-based beast after all) in order to buy me enough time to summon the spell, then I will burst out from the earth to punch the vulcan in the stomach.

It hurts even trying to move, let alone travel at a fast enough velocity to build up the sufficient final blow. At this very point, the Vulcan perched over me, its arm held above its head, ready to slam my already pathetic body into the ground.

Confusion struck the beast's face as it saw the somewhat hopeful look on my face, thus angering it further.

"Hey! Over here!" a voice that caught me off guard. The vulcan immediately snapped towards the noise, growling with steam blown out through its nose. I peered around it to see the client performing an odd signal. A sweat drop appeared on my forehead after witnessing the businessman's idiocy. The client actually came to help me; I thought he was too busy cowering behind a tree trunk a couple feet away.

I shook my head hastily to focus myself on the advantage. "Perfect" I announced. I used my left arm to snap out my bear vial. Cracks in the ground immediately formed around me, creating a small hole for me to fall onto my ally's back. It then started to drill through the forest soil at an alarming speed. I was scared to be attempting a new stunt like this in a life-or-death situation.

I could feel the frequencies of the vibrations being sourced from the Vulcan, and also the frightened exclamations of the client. Making a reverse turn, I prepped myself to perform my move as my arm was just about ready. The bear then dipped upwards. I pierced through the ground like a bullet fired from the earth itself. Throwing my arm with all the force I can muster, I shouted with struggling in my voice.

" _ **Beast Arm! Beast King!"**_

I buried my arm into the gorilla's stomach, causing the monster to whimper with a goofy sounding groan. I sent the monster flying upwards, after witnessing my victory, my body felt non-existent. I stumbled to the ground grasping my lungs onto more oxygen. My arm burned like I just laid it into a volcano, it was a mixture of numbness and concentrated neural response.

Getting more air, I rose up triumphantly, my arm reverting to its original form. After wiping off the blood around my mouth I retrieved the fallen bandages from the tree I was hit into and covered my thigh with it instead. "You OK over there?" I heard the client shout, realising his sarcasm.

"Ha ha, very funny" for someone who nearly died, I sure seemed kind of jokey; maybe it was the adrenaline. "What the hell were you doing back there?!" I yelled back just now memorising his earlier actions.

"Look man, you was about to die, what else could I have done?!" he yelled back. I sighed in a way which basically said "I give up."

"Well, let's keep going then." I said walking off with limp arms and legs.

"Ummmm…" I heard the client say with a very prioritising tone.

"What is it now?" Turning around with completely no interest left in fighting whatever monster was next. I stood there with a stunned look on my face; the comatose vulcan was disappearing into turquoise particles. I slowly said my next words in fear of what was happening "T-that's not meant to h-happen"

I didn't even attempt the retrieval, why was the soul still being extracted?

The particles flew around, and then travelled towards a tree a couple feet away from the location I fought in. I focused my eyes on what seemed to be a human hand sticking out behind the oak. There was a soul shelter being grasped in the stranger's hand, when the soul was collected, the figure stepped out for us to see.

"Elfman?! What the hell are you doing out here?!" I exclaimed.

"Friend of yours?" The client asked me.

"Yeah, if you look at his neck, he's from Fairy Tail too." I replied back.

"I was just strolling through the forest." Elfman said with a mischievous grin.

"I'm not that gullible, give back my soul shelter." I demanded with a hand opened up in front of me. Elfman thankfully obliged. "So it was you all this time, huh?" I said knowing that Elfman summoned the vulcan. So that's what he had in his hand back at the guild.

"Just checking that you had things under control." Elfman answered.

"Just checking?! I could have died, you know?!" I yelled back.

"Why do you think I stayed that close to you during that fight?" He replied with a smug smile. "If you couldn't finish it off like a real man, I would have just summoned it back anyways." So I gave it my all just for a sick joke.

"You shouldn't treat those animals as _manly_ punching bags! They're my pets after all." I said with major concern for my allies. I looked down at the vulcan soul shelter I held in my hand. Elfman must have noticed how sincere I was about their welfare.

"Your friend is fine, he's resting up well in there" Elfman remarked as a sign of comfort. The client finally intervened in the man-to-man conversation.

"Not to be rude or anything, but can we get going now?" The businessman politely asked.

"Sure, this is an escort mission after all, you coming too Elfman? Or do you have better stuff to do?" I enquired, slightly bitter from his actions.

"We're just on the edge of the forest, I might as well." He replied. After his answer, he matted my messy hair with his huge hands, making me feel a little short. I've placed my vulcan soul shelter where it was missing all this time.

With the ordeal now over, we continued through the patch of nature. On the way, Elfman took over the role of pulling the cart, I felt sorry for the client, he must have felt exhausted hauling so much stock over this distance. What alarmed me was how easily Elfman pulling the package was, he made it seem like a toy. All I did was felt down about not being that strong. "A real man should be doing this job." He proudly stated.

"Yeah, we know" Both me and the client said in synchronisation.

Eventually, we came up to a little clearing. Noticing this open space up ahead of us, I started speeding up my walking since I couldn't wait to bask in the sunlight for once. Suddenly, I felt Elfman's hand placed on my hoodie, tugging at my shoulder. "We should head through here, it's quicker that way" he said pointing towards some trees placed around the clearing.

"Oh come on, we're not in a rush, are we? Can't we just walk through this lush opening just here?" I whined. Elfman's grip on my shoulder tightened, causing me to look up to see his saddened, serious face, almost like he didn't even want anything to do with this place. Recognising how he looked, I decided to not object to his wishes. I was slightly confused as to why Elfman felt this way. Did something happen here or something?

Following the shortcut, we finally arrived back at the entrance to Magnolia, not a single scratch on the client or the stock. Mission accomplished! "Thanks for the help getting this here; I can make my way from here." The manager informed us. He reached into his pocket. "Here's the reward, you deserved it.".

"It's fine, you didn't need protecting anyways so I don't really deserve it" I said being modest.

"You risked your life for me, which is more than what I can say for lots of other people, besides you need the money don't you?" He explained.

"When you put it like that, I feel bad refusing. Thanks." I accepted the pay whilst also giving the client a firm handshake. "Good luck with your business."

"You're welcome to stop by anytime. Farewell." He started heading into town.

"See ya" Me and Elfman said in unison. "I'm impressed, your first mission was a success." Elfman gave a smile. I simply chuckled.

"By the way, why were you testing me like that back there?" I wondered. Elfman's smile turned into a serious gaze.

"Because I'm going to make you a real man" I looked at him with an enlightened look, like I was witnessing greatness.

* * *

Continued in Chapter 5 **"What Makes a Real Man?"**

 **Whew, I'm glad I finished writing this first mission. It's time for Rai to actually settle into his new home. But wait, he doesn't have one….yet.**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions!**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	5. What Makes a Real Man

**Hello again! I surprisingly got this finished quickly, despite it being the longest chapter yet apart from Ch. 1.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – What Makes a Real Man?**

"Wait! Hold on a minute!" I protested. My face was as red as a rose. "I only met you just today! Why do you want to recruit me already?!" I yelled "It's not like I'm worth anything, right?" I said whilst chuckling.

"That's exactly why. You need to toughen up a bit." Elfman replied. "And you are not worthless, if you were, you wouldn't have become a wizard in the first place."

"You have a point, yet I'm still just a big coward." I further insulted myself.

"Then who was that man fighting that vulcan out there just a while ago? To my knowledge, it was you; clearly enjoying the thrill of the fight, like a real man should be."

"That was a beast. I can outsmart those animals, predict their moves. Even then, I still couldn't beat a simple vulcan. Other wizards are a completely different story. I would be utterly useless then; not a real man in anyone's eyes, just a pathetic teenage boy who cowers in fear like a lamb to the slaughter." I said whilst clenching my fists and looking down at the concrete. My blue eyes started to glisten with a salty liquid. I could feel Elfman's hand land on my left shoulder blade, this time in a gentler manner. I looked up to see his tiny smile.

"Don't give me that crap, a real man would never say anything like that. You'll be just fine with Fairy Tail." The tears building up seemed to disappear when he said that. "Whenever you think of stuff like that, remember what's on your neck." His flat hand turned into a point aiming at my azure guild mark. "That is the sign of your bravery." This was followed by me placing my hand in that exact spot, smiling with comfort.

"Thank you." I never expected anyone to show such kindness, let alone this man. It felt so long since someone actually cared for me.

"Come on, let's get back to the guild."

"Sure." I replied. I did wonder about my battle injuries, but after I was checked at the hospital, I was told I would be just fine as I am.

After arriving back at the guild, the first place I went to was the bar to get a refreshing drink. Levy was conveniently sitting on the bar stool next to me. "Hey Rai, how did your first mission go?" she asked.

"Um, fine I guess, it wasn't that high of a reward just so you know." I answered honestly, rubbing the back of my head. I must have seemed like an annoyingly modest person to her. I should probably act differently if I want a chance of befriending her, she definitely seemed like a pleasant person to be with.

"So what? I, well we, take quite a few small-scale jobs." She said implying Jet and Droy. "You're welcome to join Team Shadow Gear if you feel like having company, we could use some new faces." She offered.

"Thanks, just give me a while to settle in first, it's only my first day here." After I concluded that sentence, I could hear some footprints behind the bar. I quickly changed my body language, knowing who it was.

"What would you like?" Mira asked. She was not met with a verbal answer, only my crossed arms, a maddened face and a glare which should be given an explanation. In the background was a raging fire, displaying my pent up anger perfectly. "Rai?" She persisted, somehow not noticing my expression.

"You told Elfman to do it, didn't you? I said like I was interrogating her.

"He wanted to do it as well, I just gave him that little nudge." Mira teased with a smile. "We both wanted to know what was wrong with your arm, so why not see it when the user is affected." She explained. I somehow felt unsatisfied with her reasons.

"Elfman knew it was takeover magic and not something else." I retaliated. Unless he didn't tell her for some odd reason, Mira would know exactly what was wrong with my arm.

"There's no harm in checking is there?" She continued. I couldn't believe she actually thought having her brother attack me like that was a good idea.

"You had to do this experiment on my first mission, oh well." I sighed. "Oh yeah that's right, I wanted to ask you how to fix my arm."

"I only saw it briefly when you was unconscious earlier, mind if I take a closer look at it?" Mira offered.

"I'll have a look too if you don't mind." Levy joined.

"Sure, what I'm wondering is how I was able to use Takeover despite not learning it." I said pulling up my sleeve, laying the limb on the bar table. The scar consisted of four thick claw marks located on my forearm, arching around the front almost like bloody rings which haven't been finished. There was only a thin patch of skin covering the concrete bone which had built up over two years, yet it might as well be transparent. Levy slightly tensed up, I'm guessing she hasn't seen it yet, or maybe she did and she's just a bit squeamish.

"You poor guy" Mira said out of pity. She is kind of right, a part of me wonders I would have been better off being killed by that monster's attack. "That must have been horrible living with that for so long."

"It was, it hurt like hell ever since." I wanted to shift my attention from the past to the present. "What do you think?" I asked. I've been waiting for this answer for so long, it's been draining my existence of any other purpose.

"There are traces of magical energy within the scar, like it was transferred from the beast itself. Combining this with your own energy, it helped you perform a partial takeover spell." She explained.

"But what about all the other times? The bursts of pain and such." I wondered.

"I'm not certain, it seems that the beast's energy tends to spike, explaining why you can't control it. You haven't, well let's just say, lost yourself to it, have you?" She hesitantly assumed.

"Eh?! No! Well at least I hope not." I shouted, murmuring the last sentence. Levy gave me a look of concern whilst Mira gave a sigh of relief, like she thought I would let that happen. Why did she think I came here in the first place? "Back with the vulcan, it was like the beast in my arm was helping me." I pondered; I must have sounded like a lunatic. I heard Mira exclaim with puzzlement.

"Just to be safe, don't use the beast's energy again. It seems to have some really bad side effects after usage. You'll be fine without it, right?" She questioned whilst I hid my arm with my jacket sleeve. My current magic is certainly capable of protecting me from harm, yet, what would have happened if that wasn't enough? Back there with the vulcan, what if that was for real and I couldn't use the beast arm? A thought bubble appeared my head depicting a cartoonish drawing of my dead body, I slightly shivered picturing such dire situations.

"I hope so; my beasts will be there for me so there's that. But..." I hesitated, trying to think of the best way to say it.

"Can you teach me takeover magic? The magic I learned was self-taught; it would help if I learnt from an expert." I begged with my hands clasped together. Mira seemed fine with the idea.

"I would be glad to but I'm unfortunately busy with bar work. There is someone else though…" She hinted obviously. I instantly knew who it was. I turned around on my bar stool to direct my vision towards Elfman at a nearby table, about to chomp on a massive sandwich. He noticed me looking at him, replying by raising his hand. Facing back at Mira, I sluggishly placed my forehead against the hard wood of the bar table. Knowing how hard-core Elfman is, training with him is going to be hard, maybe even too much for me to keep up. Gaining the dignity to raise my hand, I groaned my next words.

"Fine, I'll talk to him." I got off my bar stool and proceeded towards Elfman's table.

( **Mira's POV** )

"You know you can just get someone else to do the bartending around here, right? Levy implied. I went to whisper to her.

"I know, but look at big bro Elf and Rai." Both of us peeked over to the mentioned men. "Don't they look cute together?" I said happily.

"You have a point there." Both of us giggled quietly so they couldn't hear us.

( **Back to Rai's POV** )

"Mind if I sit next to you?" I nervously asked. Elfman answered agreeably. I laid my food and drink on the table, goodbye to the job money. I peeked at Elfman finishing off his colossal sandwich, slightly daunted by how big it was compared to mine. "How on earth land can you fit that in your mouth?" I questioned worriedly.

"It's big enough for a real man like me." Elfman replied,

"No need to rub it in." I said with a pout on my face. "So, um, I was wondering i-if you could t-teach me takeover." I timidly murmured. I'm not sure he even heard me.

"I told you I was gonna make you a real man, didn't I? What other magic would I teach you?" He responded rhetorically. I smiled, glad to know he's going to help me out. "Training starts tomorrow." My smile instantly turned into a haunted frown.

I heard someone kick down the main doors, promptly gaining my attention. "WE'RE BACK!" the intruder yelled. In my eyes I saw a sakura-haired boy walking alongside a dumb-struck blonde girl. I was stunned after seeing the boy suddenly burst in.

"Do you have to kick the doors open every time Natsu?!" The girl screamed at the boy. The last word she said changed my expression, I just realised who I was looking at. I mumbled to myself.

"Natsu the Salamander…"

 **Continued in Chapter 6 "The Dragon Slayer"**

 **Oh Mira, the mother of shipping lol. And oh god Natsu is back! I wonder how Rai will react to him.**

 **I now actually have a plan for the next few chapters so I'll be faster in making them, sorry for the wait.**

 **I hope you enjoyed!**


	6. The Dragon Slayer

**I must apologize for the overly long wait, I have been horrendously ill the past few days.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Fairy Tail, only my OC Rai. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – The Dragon Slayer**

* * *

I couldn't process the fact that the renowned "salamander" was standing only a few feet away from my current position. I just sat there, staring at Natsu, looking like an obsessed fanboy. "You know him?" Elfman said witnessing me snap out of my immortal daze. I felt awkward coming up with an answer after what I just did.

"Um yeah, the infamous Salamander, right? The guy who could blow up an entire town if he wanted to?! He's so reckless! I admire him!" I stuttered at first but became confident in what I was saying, Elfman seemed slightly surprised by my last sentence. I was stood in a triumphant pose on my chair, completely ignorant to how ridiculous I looked. Now I understand why Elfman looked so staggered.

"Hey Elfman! Who's the new kid?" Natsu's voice peaked out of nowhere. He was accompanied by the blonde woman. Realising who was standing next us, I quickly sat back down, I felt so horribly embarrassed.

"This wimp? That's Rai." Elfman teased, knowing that I wouldn't speak up. Natsu just looked at my depressed face gazing blankly at the table. A black haze could be seen above my head, indicating my mood.

"Is he OK?" The salamander questioned. Natsu proceeded to poke my head, moving it like a bobble head. He repeated this action a few more times, chuckling along with his mischievous acts. The girl simply gasped at what Natsu was doing. I had to respond now, no matter what I was feeling. I rose my head off the table to reply to his question.

"Yes I'm just fine. You're the Salamander aren't you?" I altered my vision to notice Natsu just beside me. The urge to turn into that annoying photographer from Sorcerer Weekly was so strong during this moment, yet I was able to contain my emotions.

"I sure am! I'm the fabled dragon slayer of this mess of a guild I call home. Did the guy who told you about me say I was handsome?" He answered boastily, his face beaming whilst speaking. I only noticed the blue cat after he leapt up to onto the table.

"I doubt anyone would call you handsome." The feline remarked. Natsu's face looked stunned. The blonde joined in the mocking.

"The fact you're like a dragon isn't very appealing to women." She said with a cheeky grin on her face. She diverted her attention to me. "I'm Lucy, that stupid cat is Happy." The girl informed me. So this was the newcomer Elfman told me about.

"No it's not, it's slightly angry at you. Am I missing something?" I questioned idiotically. The next thing I saw was everyone but Elfman placing their palms on their faces, he was just crossing his arms in disappointment.

"That's his name" Elfman explained, an animated picture of tumbleweed was rolling against a black background, I was the only one visible.

"I'm sorry!" I yelled bowing my head with my hands held together in a prayer.

"Oh its fine, it happens a lot." Natsu said whilst sniggering at Happy. Some part of me thought that Natsu was just joking around but I'm not really sure.

"Did you just come back from a job?" I asked.

"Yeah, had to return some stolen book." Natsu lightly informed.

"We would have gotten that 2 million jewel reward if you didn't refuse it like a dumbass." Lucy added. I just sat there shell-shocked, comical pictures of dollar signs shattering appeared on my twitching eyeballs.

"2 million for some damn book?! Refused?!" I exclaimed. I then placed my head on the table again, depressed once more. "I had to fight a vulcan for 500 jewel." I groaned.

"A vulcan, eh? I beat one at like…" The pink-haired boy paused to count on his fingers. "12 years old!" He concluded with a light bulb above his head.

"I don't think that's going to make him feel any better." Lucy replied. She's definitely right.

"It's not? OK then, another guy in our guild can beat 19 in a row!" Natsu continued. I just groaned miserably.

"You don't get it, do you? Besides, didn't you have some trouble with just one the other day?" Lucy remarked.

"Tsk, no I did not." Natsu defended unconvincingly.

"Geez, you're even weaker than I thought." Elfman provoked.

"Oh yeah?! Why don't you prove it, muscle-head!" Natsu threatened, raising up his fist engulfed in fire, ready for a brawl.

"That's rich coming from you!" Elfman shouted back, repeating Natsu's actions, well without the fire. I just stood there next to Lucy, witnessing these two individuals go at it.

"Go get him Natsu!" Happy cheered. I let out some nervous laughter to calm myself down. On the other hand, Lucy was seemingly alright with an all-out scrap in the guild. Maybe I should break it up…

"Um, do you think we should stop them?" I whimpered to Lucy. She gave me the same concerned look I shown earlier.

"I don't think that's a good idea, you should probably get used to it." Lucy warned whilst I looked in hopelessness. As soon as I looked back towards the bout, Natsu was thrown headfirst along the table at a breakneck speed straight towards me. Plates and bottles came crashing off the sides of the once peaceful and unscathed furniture. I closed my eyes to brace myself for the impact of Natsu's skull until I felt an unusual chill contact my skin. I revealed my vision to see a blockade of ice right in front of my face, subsequently hearing someone's head hitting the other side. I gasped in wonder at the formation of frozen water as a physical object. The half-naked ice wizard approached Natsu in anger.

"Watch where you're going, flame-brain! At least show some decency to the beginners!" Gray antagonized the salamander.

"Says you, cold feet! I bet you nearly covered that guy in ice!" Natsu yelled, a massive bruise protruding on his head where he connected with the barrier.

"I'll just leave you cry-babies alone." Elfman said, going around to the other side of the ice shield where I resided. The cold temperature emanating from the ice started to get to me so I made sure to warm myself up. After Gray dismantled his magic, he, Lucy, Happy, Natsu and Elfman all turned to see me with a lizard resting in my hands, breathing mini spurts of fire to heat up my palms. It was charcoal black with splotches of amber around its body. When I noticed everyone's attention on me, I grew a little timid of what was going on with them.

"What? What is it?" I said hastily. The summoned creature ironically shivered in fear of all the staring bystanders.

"Cool!" Natsu exclaimed, like he was a naïve little kid, stars appeared in his wide eyes. He was bouncing up and down on the spot like he just ate his own weight in sugar. "What's that?!" He asked impatiently.

"Um, Pyro Salamander" I answered nervously. I realised only then, this was the first time I demonstrated my magic to other fellow wizards.

"I need that as a pet!" Natsu concluded. The next thing I saw was a heart-crushed Happy sulking on the table.

"What's wrong with me?" Happy moaned in an adorable cry. His voice alone made me feel pity for him.

"I wasn't replacing you, never mind there he goes." Natsu consoled unsuccessfully. "I just had an idea! Me and Rai should fight to decide who should own it". Natsu said whilst smacking his clenched fist against his palm. Everyone including me was left stunned by Natsu's suggestion.

"Uh, t-that won't be n-necessary." I stuttered rapidly shaking my hands horizontally, nervously laughing. Knowing of his reputation as the dragon slayer, I would most likely get knocked out within a matter of seconds. Sure he just lost a fight with Elfman but still, he would be trying against me since there's an actual reason to be fighting in the first place.

"Awwwwww, you're no fun. I guess I'll see you later." Natsu snapped out of his once battle-ready state to start walking away from us along with Happy. I was left there both in shock and relief.

"Hey Natsu! I'm not finished with you yet!" Gray ran after him.

"It was a pleasure meeting you" Lucy chirped before going after the boys, leaving only me and Elfman left.

"Well…Natsu is sure something special" I said awkwardly.

"Trust me, the worst is yet to come. Like Titania." Elfman advised.

"I don't think I can withstand any more insanity for today." I moaned. Right after I finished that sentence, I heard yet another person barge through the guild doors.

"EVERYONE LISTEN UP! ERZA IS BACK!" A man with glasses, a green, furry jacket similar to mine and denim jeans proclaimed to the entire guild.

"Speaking of the literal devil…" Elfman stated...

* * *

Continued in Chapter 7 " **Queen of the Fairies** "

 **Now onto Erza…**

 **I think that's the most people I've written in a single conversation so far this series.**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions!**

 **I hope you enjoyed!**


	7. The Queen of Fairies

**I'm back! I'm finally better now, just need to finish the rest of the week off and I'm free for the holidays. In the meantime, let's see how Rai fancies meeting the one and only Titania!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters, I only claim my OC Rai.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7 – The Queen of Fairies

"Devil? Wait why?!" I questioned worriedly. I was slightly trembling, thinking about the unknown. Elfman almost seemed hesitant to answer, like he wanted me to see for myself when _she_ arrives.

"She may be even more of a man than me" He leaded on with intrigue. The words he pronounced were spoken with such a visceral tone, he could describe the cutest creature in existence and make it sound intimidating. His tone greatly increased my fear, leading to telltale signs of being scared.

"Why are you calling a girl a man?! And what do you mean _may be_?!"I freaked out, gripping onto my blue hair in a weird attempt of de-stressing myself. He could probably hear the intense clattering my teeth were making.

"Well she's certainly the manliest woman I know." He added in his bass-like voice. To be honest, that didn't really help me in the slightest. One person who proclaims about his own manhood was enough, but two?! I simply couldn't fathom the thought. Nevertheless, I prepped myself for this "Titania" person to make her entrance.

"Will you stop shaking already?! You shouldn't look so pathetic!" He yelled right in my ear, obviously trying to make me halt my quaking.

"I'm trying!" I shouted back with gritted teeth mixing with a sob. Suddenly, I could hear someone opening the guild doors. Instantly, I threw my arms to my sides like I was in the military awaiting orders, I didn't even care if it was just someone else. I didn't want to risk being out of my clearly low ranking. Then she arrived.

Through the unveiling light I could make out a scarlet-haired woman, cladded in shining, silver armour accompanied with blue shorts. The chestplate was marked with a familiar golden "Heart Kreuz" logo, this shape overlapped her crimson guild mark on her left side. She looked more of a knight than a wizard, like one of those soldiers you would find guarding the town hall, just a little more extravagant with the outfit.

And then I actually saw what she was carrying. I was shocked by how she was carrying something taller than her, even more so than with Elfman pulling the cart earlier. It was a colossal horn, despite me initially thinking it was a tooth or claw. It had several small cracks appearing near the point, along with some minor scuff marks. What size of a monster does it have to be to possess such a huge horn?! Besides that, the next thing I noticed was the assortment of jewels covering the base of the object. Gold, emeralds, sapphires, you name it. Even though the top half preserved its battle damage, the bottom half was decorated like a trophy.

After the knight made her way into the guild, she placed the trophy on the wooden floor with a thundering thwump noise, sending mini earthquakes from my feet to my head. My nerves heightened. The woman sighed.

"I only leave for a while and this is the state of the guild?" She said bitterly, noticing the table me and Elfman were standing next to, it was covered in smashed glass and dent marks. I gulped in fear of what she would do to me as punishment. She then started to lecture each member of the guild for their misdeeds, gradually making her way up to me. "And you! Stop shaking like that, last time I checked it's not that cold!" She commanded me with a pointed finger, I was just satisfied that she didn't point out anything else.

"Yes ma'am!" I shouted back, straightening up my posture. However, she could still see the mini vibrations showing on my hands.

"Elfman! Knock some sense in him!" The knight ordered him like he was just as lowly as me. I kept my expression monotone to avoid even more scolding.

"Gladly!" Elfman replied positively with a malicious smirk. I finally snapped out of my once emotionless phase to retaliate sarcastically.

"Gee thanks m-!" I couldn't even finish my sentence before I was pounded on the top of my head, smashing me to the wooden floor.

(Elfman's POV)

Rai's head collided with the ground, cracking the wood in several places. Some of the splinters spiked upwards. I was expecting him to stand up and simply shrug the pain off, but he just laid there. Giving it a few seconds, Rai didn't make any movements, not even a twitch. I thought to myself "Did he _really_ get knocked out by that?" Lucy was jaw-dropped at the sudden act of violence, even though she's seen worse from the other fights, she then decided to speak up.

"She didn't mean literally knock him out!" I had to come up with a reason for this predicament.

"I didn't even hit him that hard!" That was the honest truth. There was such a mix of reactions among with the prominent wizards. Natsu was simultaneously holding his stomach and mouth, he was failing to concealing his laughter.

"Guahahaha! Do it again!" His words blended in with his scoffing. Lucy once again was shell-shocked. I don't think he understands that I can't knock out a man who is already unconscious.

"That's what you're concerned about?!" The celestial wizard further shouted. Gray also displayed distaste towards Natsu's comments.

"Oh goodness" Mira intervened in her unusually happy tone, finally noticing Rai's lifeless body. At this point, the dread started to settle in, he couldn't be dead, right?

Just to check, I proceeded to grab the young wizard's jacket collar to pull him upwards.

"He's not dead, is he?" Lucy questioned. When I examined Rai's levitated head, his eyes were filled with spinning lines, he had a dizzy smile with slight drool on the corner of his lips and his face was covered with sawdust created from the sheer impact of the landing. Immediately after seeing his face, Rai was met with a severe slap which could've taken his head clean off if I wasn't supporting it on my arm. I snapped my attention to the owner of the rosy hand.

"What the hell was that for?!" It was Lucy who was responsible. And to think she was concerned for Rai's health.

"He had a nosebleed! How else did you think I felt?!" She tried to act innocent, when she was actually doing the exact opposite.

"He never even looked at you! A real man never gets those kind of nosebleeds! And I'm pretty sure that was from him hitting his damn face on the floor! His nose may be broken for all we know!" The barrage of explanations escaped me. Out of nowhere, Erza started to get angry with herself.

"Curses! I should have known not to ask something like that! He must be one of the new members, I swear I had no ill will!" The armoured mage pleaded. I never really expected her to be the one getting mad. My sister was the next one to speak.

"I have an idea! Maybe he just needs…" She said whilst kneeling down next to Rai, her lips approaching his. Some part of me wondered if this was even necessary.

"Sis, you sure this would work?" After I finished speaking she and Rai were a few inches away from eachother. Their expressions couldn't be more different if they tried.

Right before the kiss of life was about to occur, the young man's eyes started to flicker, unfortunately Mira's eyes were shut.

"Wait! _Oof!"_ Rai sprung back to life, only to smack his forehead againstMira's, knocking him out once again. He was right back where he started. My sister stood back up, holding her forehead.

"Mira! Are you OK?" I said whilst dropping the boy onto the floor, I stood next to her for the sake of comfort. I gently replaced her hands with my own, the steel cold feeling of blood contacted my fingers. Why didn't I stop her? I felt bad for her, she had nothing to do with this yet she still got hurt. There was no need for Rai to headbutt her like that.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm not so sure about Rai, though." She looked at the mentioned wizard's unconscious body.

"No, you need to go home and fix yourself up, I won't allow you to keep working like this. As for him, I'll take care of him myself." I replied. I made my way over to the lifeless body sprawled across the floor.

"Are you sure? He seems to be in a pretty bad shape." Mira seemed concerned for him, makes sense considering she tried, and failed, to kiss him earlier. I lifted Rai onto my right shoulder, his arms hanging over my back. I made my way over to the guild hall entrance.

"Tsk, this man has been through much worse than this. I know he's fine. Make sure you rest up, okay?"

* * *

(Rai's POV)

My cheek twitched. Feeling this movement, I started to unlock my vision, which was difficult at first due to how dizzy I felt. Even after opening my eyes, everything looked like a blur. A slight burning sensation triggered in my forehead, leading me to contact a wooly bandage wrapped over the bruise.

I started to wonder what could have happened in order for me to end up like this. " _The last thing I remember is seeing that knight girl bossing me around, then nothing else. Hold on a second. That jerk! Why did that girl just attack me out of nowhere?!"_ After concluding on my memories, I decided to get myself moving so I could talk to that mysterious woman, except that the pain made me falter a bit.

I could feel the hard leather of the sofa I was lying on, as well as the contrastingly soft covers concealing my entire body, who sleeps with covers this big? After my vision cleared up, I could finally see my surroundings: brown walls covered with multiple pictures, wooden décor that easily blended in and an egg white ceiling. My temporary bed was opposite a currently off fireplace.

" _Where the hell am I?!"_

* * *

 **Continued in Chapter 8 "What A Day"**

 **Well that's one way to get Rai out of a guild lol. I think he should be a bit grateful he isn't still on the guild hall floors lol.**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions!**

 **I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. What A Day

**Hello again! This will be my last update before Christmas, I wish you all have a good time.**

 **Now let's see where Rai is…**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters, I only claim my OC Rai.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 – What A Day**

I had no idea where I was, I wasn't detecting any signs of human life, or any life for that matter, around me. An eerie silence filled the room. Smells of pine and other essences of nature graced my nose. Although I was inside a building, with none of the windows opened (idiotically on a sunny day), it still felt like I was in the middle of the East Forest from earlier.

I needed to get out of here and make my way back to the guild, or at least somewhere I knew was safe. But…

" _Where's my stuff?!"_ I really needed to stop my habit of constantly losing my belongings, at least I still had my clothes on me and everything on them, soul shelters and money, that was honestly all I needed. I sighed, knowing that my backpack was probably back at the guild where I last felt conscious. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was brought along with me to this mysterious place. I ran my hand around the sofa I was lying on, nothing.

I sneaked hesitantly around the room to see if it was here, my vision still somewhat blurry due to waking up with a headache. Trying my best to stay silent, I still produced some creaks walking on the wooden floor, tensing up with each noise. Again, I couldn't find anything belonging to me. I forced myself to explore other rooms.

Entrance, kitchen, dining room, bedroom. No luck. Well at least I had a good look at the house, it was quite quaint considering I was stressing out being here for no reason. Whilst in the bedroom, I was going to open the other doors leading to storages and other rooms, then the door knob rattled.

I panicked, squeezing myself under the bed which was quite low to the floor. Terror struck me about who was coming through the door, whoever they were, they would most certainly not be glad about someone spelunking in their bedroom (that didn't sound right, did it?)

My whole body was shaking from dread; the door hasn't even opened yet. I kept myself on the side farthest away from the door so I could stand a better chance of being seen, however, I placed myself so far to the opposite side that I couldn't see the person.

His/her feet patted along the floor, whilst also giving a mighty yawn. After a few seconds, I could feel the stranger's weight lying on the bed; I winced since it was slightly crushing my back. It seemed like the figure was getting some desperately needed relaxation, as its weight was spread across the bed, probably lying down on the furniture. I needed to breathe, but I couldn't risk gaining attention, I just held my oxygen back.

"That man is gonna get it when he wakes up. What's taking him so damn long?" The stranger warned in a gruff voice. I hoped that it was a male's. My face was stained with horror, scared for my life.

" _Who the hell is this guy_?!" I've been constantly asking myself questions during this whole mess. It was time to get some answers. All the worst possible thoughts came flooding into my head: getting beaten up? Murdered? _That_? I was horrified at myself for thinking all those things, the shaking only got worse as a result.

Even better, I could hear chirping entering the room. From what my experience with birds had told me, it sounded like a parakeet. I tried to not get distracted by it, I was still hiding.

"Hey there, little guy. How has my little Elf Jr been doing?" The stranger conversed with the bird who chirped back. At that point, I knew who it was. I thought it was adorable that the big brute had such a little, fluffy pet in his possession. I could see why he hasn't brought it up in conversation; a faint smile appeared on my face.

Nevertheless, I still had to find a way of sneaking past this guy and making it outside, exchanging my casual expression for a serious one. Elfman kept up the conversation with his bird friend.

"How did you even get in here? I thought I shut the door to the living room, that's strange." I tensed up, realising my failure in covering my traces. At least he got off the bed, my back felt like murder. "Why don't you go outside for a bit? My little baby needs some fresh air." He said whilst heading towards the window. This was just embarrassing at this point; he must have had no clue I was right there under his bed, I guess that was a good thing.

One problem: the window he was going to open was on the same side as the bed I was hiding on. I could hear the sound of his footsteps surround the resting place, shuffling my body along the floor as a response. This was a chance, but I couldn't summon the courage to make a break for the door. "Make sure you're back for dinner." Elfman advised his pet before letting it fly away. "Now, about Rai." Oh no.

He proceeded towards the door which led into the living room, the room I woke up in. If this wasn't a chance to run, I didn't know what else was. As soon as Elfman was closing the door behind him, I slid myself from under the bed and made a break for the now open window. As I was ready to jump out, I took a look down. I was already in the middle of making my leap, causing me to wobble back onto the edge.

" _What the hell is this?!"_

I took a look of my surroundings: the floor seemed lower than I expected it to be, the building was surrounded by trees and I could see a little cobblestone path, probably leading back to Magnolia. Apparently, I was asleep so long that it was nearly pitch black outside. Because I was so high up, it occurred to me that I couldn't simply jump down onto the ground without at least breaking my legs, I reached for my hawk soul shelter and readied myself for the leap of faith.

"Oi!" A voice calmly said behind me, shock taking over my body. Leaning forward, I flailed my arms in the opposite direction in a pitiful attempt to regain my balance, it didn't work. Luckily, I was grabbed by my jacket collar and yanked back into the house. "What the hell were you doing?" I was lying on my back, closing my eyes from hitting my already damaged head.

"Um, nothing I swear!" I pleaded whilst opening my eyes to see his feet, he wasn't wearing his sandals. I panned my eyes upwards, seeing his lower half covered in a towel (thank goodness) whilst another one was wrapped around his neck similarly to Natsu's scarf. Everywhere else was naked. I was surprised he was able to hide all of his muscle underneath his jacket. His silver hair was matted down like mine, contrasting with its previously spiked up state.

"You could have told me you was having a bath!" I yelled.

"You were passed out! How could I?!" He argued back, clearly irritated by the situation.

"Um, just wake me up? It wasn't like before and for goodness sake put something on!" I realised I was casually talking with a man with no clothes on.

"Fine then." He said whilst reaching for the towel around his waist. I immediately objected to his actions.

"Don't! You! Dare!" I fumed with my finger pointed at him (I guess the influence of that knight girl rubbed off on me). He simply laughed.

"Geez, you sound like Erza." That name puzzled me.

"Er, who?"

"That Titania I told you about." He leaded on.

"Oh her! Speaking of, do you have my stuff with you?"

"Can you at least let me get changed?!"

"Gladly" I said whilst heading back into the living room the second I heard him.

* * *

I spent the next few minutes chilling on the sofa I was previously asleep on, calming myself after my failed attempt of being one of those ninja people I heard myths and stories about. Now that my hazy vision had cleared up, I could see the wooden birdcage which obviously belonged to this 'Elf Jr' resting on the kitchen counter.

Elfman came back into the room, this time without his jacket, showing a red tank top. Just to save myself some trouble, I explained what I was doing looking around the house. After seeing me with a vengeful look on my face, he confessed to knocking me out back at the guild despite not meaning to; I was slightly relieved I didn't have to demand answers from that red-haired 'devil'. I once again asked him about the location of my belongings.

"Um, it's right there. It was there the whole time." He pointed to the space underneath a coffee table right next to me. There it was. A haunted look appeared on my face.

"I could have saved myself all that trauma." Elfman was clearly offended by me apparently calling seeing his body as 'traumatic'.

"Hey! It's not my fault you're so blind!" I pointed to my bandaged forehead.

"You do know my head hurts, right?! And excuse me; you're the one with a damn Frankenstein scar on your eye! I should be asking you that!" I was right in front of him when I shouted. He didn't seem too pleased with what I said.

"Just get some rest, you're gonna need it for tomorrow." He seemed to hold back on what he truly felt. After he went back into his bedroom, carrying the birdcage with him, my stomach started to rumble. I got some emergency food I kept in my backpack for longer journeys, there wasn't much left but there was certainly enough for a quick meal.

I got the covers that were piled up on the floor and tugged myself onto the sofa once again. The feeling of paranoia settled in my mind: did I upset Elfman? What was he planning for training tomorrow? I knew questioning myself on these things would not ready me for the next day, I peacefully went to sleep.

I had a pretty wild day: Joining the guild, my first mission, made a friend and settled myself into a temporary team. I would say that was a successful first day as a Fairy Tail wizard (or at least what I thought was the first day.)

* * *

 **Continued in Chapter 9 "Man-In-Training"**

 **Training chapter next time! I promise I will speed the tempo up, I need to get more stuff happening per chapter.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	9. Man In Training

**Hello again! I hope you all had a good Xmas and New Year's. As this is the first chapter released in 2016, I'll be making this a long one. (And also to apologize for the long wait once again lol.)**

 **You may have noticed the new cover picture, created by Milennin, he did a good job on it :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, everything belongs to Hiro Mashima. I only claim my OC Rai.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 – Man-In-Training**

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING: 6 AM

A tidal wave splashed me in the face, making me violently wake up. Subsequently, I felt my face colliding with the earth, devoid of any grass.

"What the heck?!" I said whilst rubbing the muddy mixture of water and dirt off my face.

"Rise and shine!" Looking up to see Elfman, who had his jacket back on standing with a bucket, I noticed the thick trees surrounding us. We was on a little patch of ground, like we was in a mini wasteland hidden in the middle of a forest.

"Wait a sec, did you carry me and this sofa all the way out here?!"

"Save the details for later, now shut up and give me 100 laps!" He blew a whistle right next to my ear.

"Oh just give me five more minutes, it's not even daylight!" I moaned, I only wanted some rest in order to save up energy. I slumped myself back on the piece of furniture, subsequently dragged off by my hair. "Hey, hands off the hair!" I shouted, throwing my arms and legs like a riot.

"You can have your beauty sleep after!" After being placed on the starting line, I reluctantly ran my course laid out for me on the ground. At least a dozen times, I was reprimanded for showing signs of exhaustion. Nearing the half-way point after half an hour, my legs gave away from underneath me, I collapsed to my knees. My fingers were dug into the dusty surface, wheezing with every breath. Dreading what would happen next, I braced my ears to cope with Elfman's incoming insults. Strangely, he didn't say anything let alone shout. I took this silence as an opportunity to catch my breath. With 50 more laps still waiting for me, I started picking myself off the ground only to be pinned back down by a foot pushing me onto my back. "Don't push too hard, it does no good hurting yourself for no reason."

I stared blankly through the gaps of the looming branches, witnessing the ocean-blue sky in its blissful form; sometimes a cloud would grab my attention. The sunlight gradually shone on the area for the past few minutes. Weird things mesmerise me when I'm tired, I thought. Anyways, I still wanted to at least finish the rest of my cardio by the end of the day; to my knowledge, there was no use in rushing myself with training.

"I thought you was gonna teach me magic, not stupid fitness stuff." I wheezed with limited air. Simply doing running didn't really suit my preferences, but who said that I had to like what training had in store for me? He just sighed.

"You're being a bit impatient, aren't you?" He said whilst offering his hand to lift me back up. I brushed the dirt off my jacket after lying on the ground like that. "It's not just about your magic energy; any mage's greatest weakness is the minimal amount of time they spend training their bodies, having magic energy means nothing if you can't fight." The explanation seemed slightly complicated but I had a good idea of what he was talking about.

"I kinda get what you mean." I hoped that I would learn more about magic in general in the near future. "Oh boy I'm hungry! That running sure took a lot out of me" My stomach growled after I finished my sentence, it was followed by me awkwardly chuckling.

"My sister normally does the food. Since we're all the way out here though, I guess I should try making a feast for a real man." My eyes turned into enormous stars.

" _Finally! I've lost count of all the times I've had to eat that rubbish they call 'food' down by those bargain stalls."_ Speaking of stalls, I thought I should do Elfman a favour for wanting to help me train. "Do you need anything from the market? I'll go get it and do more running in the meantime."

"No it's fine, however…" I didn't understand why he suddenly paused.

"What is it?" Let's just say, I wouldn't enjoy his answer.

* * *

FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL: 8 AM

(Mira's POV)

It was a peaceful start to the day in the guild, peaceful meaning there wasn't any chairs, glasses or people getting thrown around, even the weather outside was welcoming with the warm sunlight beaming through the windows. I was quietly humming to myself whilst I was busy cleaning the bar table ready for the next fellow wizard. There was a plaster on my forehead covering the bruise from yesterday, the others who were absent from yesterday asked about it, I simply made up a believable excuse to keep them from worrying.

Rai sluggishly walked into the building panting heavily and covered in sweat, I figured that was because of his training. After he came up to the bar, I wanted to ask how he was doing.

"So how was tr-" I got cut off.

"Don't ask." He had his eyes shut as an effect of his fatigue. "I literally ran for like an hour straight trying to get here."

"But Elfman only lives a few minutes away from Magnolia. How did it take you an hour?" Rai slumped onto the table, apparently saddened by my comment.

"I had no idea where I was, he never helped with directions either." He moaned. At least now I knew the reason of this young wizard's delay.

"Did you forget to get something here earlier?"

"Oh no nothing like that! Umm what happened to your head?" He went to somewhat apologise, immediately freezing when he looked at my forehead.

"What? This?" I pointed at the bandage. "I just walked into a lamppost, that's all." He didn't seem too convinced by that excuse; he wasn't as easy to fool as the others. He probably would have felt really bad if I told him the truth.

"You must have walked into it very fast. Was that all that Elfman wanted me to check up on?"

"Yeah definitely, he's a bit over protective sometimes. So he sent you over here then?"

"Yeah, well he's busy making breakfast so I guess he just wanted me to check up on ya in the meantime." He acted really awkwardly, twiddling with his fingers and blushing were tell-tale signs, like he was embarrassed for doing this. "And since we might be a while doing training stuff, he hopes you'll be alright."

"I'm fine, honestly."

"Okay, good to know. You are his sister after all, he wouldn't want anything bad happening to you. Neither would I for that matter." He showed a faint smile, innocence fluttering in his blue eyes. I returned with a similar look on my face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get that sentimental, I never meant to speak like that!" He snapped into a defensive position, slightly taking me off guard. He was such a sweet person; he was so oversensitive about other people's emotions that he didn't want to offend anyone he considered a friend.

"Ah, that's okay. I wouldn't want you to get hurt either." He let down his emotional guard to beam a bigger smile.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot." He once again slumped onto the table, this time out of exhaustion. "One VERY large glass of water, please." I chuckled out of the fact he didn't ask earlier.

* * *

MEANWHILE AT ELFMAN'S HOUSE

(Elfman's POV)

"Well, everything is nearly finished. Not my best attempt but I'm sure Rai won't mind." Since I was just waiting for the meat to cook, I let out a massive sigh of relief; I was exhausted from preparing so much food. The kitchen was a mess, just to lightly put it: the counters were stained with splashes of sauces and meat juices, the sink was overflowing with the equipment I used in my gourmet endeavours and clashing smells of all the ingredients filled the air. "It's going to take a while clearing this all up."

A couple of minutes later, the meat was fully cooked and ready to serve, all of the cooking had been finished. I then started to organise the dining table, which wasn't that big to be holding all of the dishes I had produced, until I heard a knock on the door. I figured it was probably the blue-haired mage returning from my errand. "Give me a minute!" I shouted, I wanted to get the feast ready before Rai got back. He happily obliged.

(Rai's POV)

As this was the first time I got to look at Elfman's house on the outside, I pleasantly took in the inventiveness of it. The house was incorporated into the thick trees, if it wasn't for the path it would have easily blended in with the environment; it was a one-of-a-kind building.

"Okay! It's ready!" It was time for me to quench my stomach of its hunger, the sweet aromas from indoors were further wetting my appetite.

Heading inside, I couldn't believe my eyes. In front of me laid a long table covered with plates and trays. Honey-glazed meat on the bone, vegetable salads sprinkled with purees, chocolate mousses topped with berries and cream and that wasn't all! "Behold! A real man's feast!"

"Wow!" I exclaimed with excitement. I couldn't wait to dig in this banquet. To make myself at home, I hanged my jacket on the hooks next to the entrance and made myself comfortable on the dining chair with knife and fork in hand.

"Now to be honest, I'm not that good at cooking. Just thought I'd let you know." I lowered my expectations a little bit, realising that looks aren't everything, despite how delicious the meal seemed.

"Thanks for the food!" I took a little forkful of the meat. My hand was trembling from how weak I was feeling from both running and being hungry. Eventually, I summoned the strength and courage to place the meat in my mouth.

10 SECONDS LATER

All of my plates were cleaned of the food they used to hold, no traces left. I patted my bloated stomach, accidentally burping from eating so much, and showing signs of immense satisfaction on my face.

"Not that fast!" Elfman shouted. He hadn't even taken more than a mouthful; he was shocked by how quick I finished all of my portions. "You must have been as hungry as a hundred men combined!"

"I sure was!" After he finished, I complimented every aspect of the separate dishes, only to be countered by the chef stating a list's worth of improvements, I sat there dumbfounded that it could be even better.

"I'm guessing you're more than ready for the rest of training then?" He rhetorically questioned, knowing full well I was more than ready.

"I'll certainly try!" Hiccups started to form, I covered my mouth, it served me right for rushing my heavenly food. We both laughed it off; it was one of the few times I ever genuinely laughed out of happiness.

* * *

 **Continued in chapter 10 "There is Always Someone Better"**

 **Train, eat, sleep. I hope Rai will be ok with this life from now on lol. I promise I'll be quicker in making these chapters, I've been really lazy lately :p**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions or ideas.**

 **I'll see you again in the next chapter!**


	10. There Is Always Someone Better

**Sigh ok i'm sorry, a lot of things happened (work, blah blah blah) and I couldn't really do anything about it. So to apologise, here's a extra long chapter (for my standards lol).**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters and settings. I only claim my Original Character Rai.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10 – There is Always Someone Better**

* * *

Now that I finally quenched my hunger, I proceeded to go through the rest of training for the day. It mostly consisted of stamina workouts since I was the kind of the person who got tired quite quickly, especially with my magic energy. No spectacular results came from my ordeals, but I didn't really think I was going to do that well on the first day anyway; improvements come over time is what I told myself frequently.

My muscles felt so achy from the strenuous exercises, I wished I could sleep on the cold, hard ground I was training on. However, that wouldn't really help me out in the slightest, would it? " _This is insane!"_

Before finishing up for the day, I couldn't help but notice that my mentor, who was casually leaning against a tree, was looking a bit, well 'off' I think is the best word for it. Nothing really happened today so far, it was slightly baffling to me why he seemed a bit down. The first explanation I thought of was the minor argument we had last night, it wasn't really an argument but you get what I mean.

"About last night…" I asked nervously.

"What about it?"

"I'm sorry for what I said about your scar, I must have seemed so rude."

"Yeah well I'd rather not talk about it." A wimpy frown appeared on my face. I honestly felt horrible; I hoped he didn't hold it against me. Simply apologising didn't seem enough to me, however I couldn't think of any other way to make up for my mistake. Maybe talking about something else would help, I thought. Socialising with others in these situations was never really my strong point, like I had any strength to begin with. A light bulb lit up above my head after I thought of the next conversation topic.

"You know about S-Class? Who exactly are in that category?" Elfman went on to state those very wizards, most of them I haven't even met, yet I felt like he wasn't telling me everyone. The ones he stated were the 'red-haired demon' Erza, Laxus and Mystogan. It certainly piqued my interest that I never actually communicated with these supposed powerful mages. After that he remarked about how S-Class deserved a 'real man' like him in its ranks, I was surprised I wasn't annoyed at this point with this special quirk he had.

"Why do you ask?" He questioned. I was merely just curious about S-Class since the info Mira gave me wasn't that expansive, no offence to her. Stuff like magical ability and overall how to be included in the elite were more what I wanted to know. I figured I would learn more after I meet these listed individuals.

"Well since you're always talking about what makes a real man, I thought maybe being an S-Class wizard would be one of those qualities?" I was timid, like I was trying to kindly beg him for an answer.

"It would be a start." I almost fell over from listening to that answer.

"A start?! Are you kidding me?!" Did he really expect me to make the elite seem like child's play, I thought. There were high expectations, and then there was this. Moping against a nearby tree crossed my mind, but I didn't think that would make Elfman too pleased with me. After composing myself, I thought about what I wanted to do. "Since that's the case, I've decided. Let's help each other become S-Class wizards!" A goal was one of the few things I never actually gave much thought, I was just a mere wonderer, drifting from place to place was more my thing. He seemed acceptful of the idea, giving a little grin.

"Sure! That's not a bad idea!" He held up his right arm out straight towards me, his fist clenched up. "Partners?"

I happily replied with the action, both our knuckles making contact. "Partners." I knew that this was a promise; a promise we intended on keeping.

We both heard someone coming up to greet us, immediately dropping our arms as a response. It was Levy who came out of the wilderness; she was holding a decently-sized book and seemed quite tired. Why was she in such a hurry that she had to run, I asked myself. I realised I sounded hypocritical since I basically ran to the guild, seemingly for no reason, just yesterday.

"Hey Levy! What's up?" I questioned.

"Do you mind if I talk with you for a moment?"

"Sure! What is it?"

"No, I meant in private." I had no idea she was infering such a situation. I minorly blushed thinking about all the different possibilities.

"Umm, Elfman come with me please" I grabbed his arm and went a few steps away from the young female.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled back. Both of us marginally crouched down, like we were actually trying to have a secret meeting.

"Do you think she's already asking me out?" I kept my voice to a minimal to prevent Levy from picking up our conversation.

"What?! That's what you're worried about?! A real man does the asking out himself!" Elfman said whilst raising a clenched fist.

"You know I can hear you guys?" Levy unenthusiastically said, slightly catching me off guard. Stupid guy for raising his voice when it's meant to be a secret, I fumed in anger. I sighed, discarding whatever romantic worries were plaguing my head. We both went back to our normal postures, guilty expressions covering our faces. "What are you doing out here anyway?" She said after noticing the equipment and removed jackets littered about the training grounds. For me and Elfman, the answer was simple.

"We're doing a real man's training!" Both of us said simultaneously, I had a slightly puzzled look from us being so in sync with our timings. Afterwards, Levy gently walked up to me and shook my hand, leaving me dumbfounded.

"It was nice knowing you while it lasted." She said with an unusually happy face.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Again, me and Elfman both yelled at the same time.

"Ok, we need to stop this freaky timing before it becomes a thing." I remarked. Still holding my hand, Levy started to leave the forest, taking me away like a dog on a leash.

"Take care!" She chirped. Looking back, I witnessed his little grin.

"You two have a lovely time together!" I was agitated that he had the nerve to suggest such a relationship. Well it serves me right for teasing him earlier about Levy, I pondered.

* * *

Soon enough, me and the other blue-haired mage was strolling along the forest path. "So what was this about again?" She opened her book to the specific page, the name of the book was titled 'Magical Injuries and Wounds - Essential for Healing Magic Users', not the most exciting name but you know what they say about books and covers. She put on her unique-looking glasses, explaining to me that they were special reading lens which increased the user's reading speed. " _Lucky!"_ I had to admit, I always wanted to read more literature knowing that it would help me with my magic skills, envy started to fill my mind.

"I looked a little bit more into this foreign magic energy you seem to possess. Did you have any healing magic performed on your arm somewhat around the time you obtained the injury?" She explained.

"No, I couldn't seek any help. Why do you ask?" I thought to myself that I should probably get this book that Levy has, now that I actually had money to spare from food and other basic needs (Thanks Elfman!). It would greatly help with any future accidents I have, I figured. After that thought, I realised how many things I wanted to buy all of a sudden. _"That money's going to go bye-bye soon."_

"If that's the case, the magical energy from the beast you encountered must have blended with your own. What amazes me is that, from what you've implied, it's a special kind of magic energy. Unfortunately I can't seem to find anything about it in the library." Just how big of a library was it, I should probably head straight there, I wondered.

"I'm sorry to have caused you all this trouble." I had to apologise in some way, she actually cared about me enough to help me through this predicament. At the time, she barely even knew me.

"You don't have to apologise, it's just that it was quite concerning you had something like this in your body. Speaking of, can you show me your arm again? Just to be sure." She said whilst shutting her book and raising her glasses to rest on her hair. I revealed the wound, ready for inspecting. She examined the measurements of each specific claw mark scratched across my entire arm. She seemed quite shocked at it, covering her mouth and dropping her book. "I thought you said you didn't get any medical help!" That statement left me confused.

"I didn't. What are you saying?" Her horrified expression became clearer.

"With wounds that deep, the amount of blood you must have lost should have killed you! That along with the sheer force of a wild beast creating such a deep cut should have...! How did you...?" I really wanted to tell her, but I had no idea what objective feeling was forcing me to withhold this information from her.

"I..." Then I collapsed to my knees. My face started to fill with sweat from my worrying emotions. Floods of horrible memories rushed into my head.

Memories of pain...

Memories of hopelessness...

Memories of loss...

"A-Are you OK Rai?!" I was anything but OK.

The vision of my eyes looked towards the grassless earth. I held out my injured arm where I could see it. Looking into the crevices of the scars, some split-seconds they were drenched with blood, others were just like normal. It was like I was being teleported from two different times. Along with the former blood were raindrops pouring all around me from _that_ time. The images of crimson and transparent liquids felt like black and white photographs being stimulated into my brain. Gruesome sounds of cracking bones and blood-curdling screams ringed through my ears.

"I had to do it. I would have died otherwise." My emotionless face stared aimlessly. I was off in my own nightmare world. "I should have died. But I didn't. Now I'm just suffering silently." There might as well been a zombie kneeling on the earth in that instance. "It's my entire fault. Just kill me already. I'm nothing."

"Wake up!" Vision starting to clear. Both of my shoulders were being grasped by Levy, she must have been shaking my body to help me awaken from my blood-drenched nightmare. She had a face like she just saw a ghost, well that wouldn't be too far from the truth, actually. Her fingers dug into my shoulders. I stroked my hand across my cheeks, locking up all of my body when I contacted an abnormal substanse. With a horrified look on my face, I slowly moved my hand to where I could look at my fingertips.

"Why am I crying?" I questioned myself; it was like the past few seconds were non-existent to me. Not feeling the usual softness of bandages on my right arm, I looked to see the wound unprotected. Finally, I remembered what apparently happened; Levy didn't need to explain anything to me. My face was switched back to one that wanted to conceal any emotion, obviously that failed. Picking myself off the ground, the young girl releasing her tight hold on me, I looked to see a book lying open on the patchy earth.

"You don't remember what happened just now, do you?" She questioned with an inkling of worry in her voice. I had no idea what to say, what happened was clear to me. However, I doubted that explaining having traumatizing nightmares, which occurred at random by the way, would help calm Levy's nerves one bit. A long second passed. The silence was broken by my footsteps approaching the thick parchment laid out on the ground, followed by the crinkling of said paper in my hands. My eyes scanned through the black text. "Well?" Levy infered, noticing I haven't yet answered her question.

"Not a word to anyone" I kept my eyes facing away from her, hoping to avoid her own sentimental ones. Those words came out in a slightly more threatening tone than I planned on delivering.

"Why not?! You need to fix that up as soon as possible!" Levy was clearly concerned; she had every right to be. Any normal person would be worried by a man suddenly dropping to the ground and having a mental breakdown, just to put it lightly.

"It can't be helped. Mentioning this to the others will just cause unnecessary trouble, they wouldn't want that." After I finished speaking, I slammed the book shut, the force barely blowing my hair. A delicate fabric wrapped around my left arm, that being Levy's hand, and removing one of my hands which were holding the book. I looked down on the small mage with surprised eyes, normally I would be blushing with embarrassment of a girl holding my limb like that, but this was different.

"At least let me try and help" At this point, I was at a loss of words. She experienced me at my worst, an emotional, broken mess, yet she still felt like helping a lowly individual like me. I screwed up my face, venting out any awkwardness I possessed in my body. I knew trying to solve my predicament was a lost cause. But despite that thought, something inside of me wanted to believe in the hope of my salvation. I turned towards her, gently placing my hand over her own, she probably thought I was going to free myself of her grip, I instead moved my fingers around hers.

"You don't need to do this. Surely there's more important things to take care of than me, right?"

"Well I want to, watching someone go on like this is the worst thing I can do" I was pretty sure there were worse crimes a person can commit; someone like me could definitely tell you that. Nevertheless, if she wanted to help, there was no use in resisting such charity, she probably wouldn't let me. We both released our grips on my arm.

"If that's what you want, who am I to stop you?" I gave a tiny smile, slightly tilting my face forwards to meet Levy's eyes. She possibly figured that I didn't want to argue with her any further.

"Besides, it can't be as bad as looking after those two boneheads I call teammates." She joked, referring to her allies. A little chuckle escaped my mouth, a welcome attitude compared to the utter despair I felt just earlier. I learned from Mira, from a couple of hours ago, that Levy's team was titled Shadow Gear. Weirdly, that name didn't ring any bell in my head about Jet and Droy's magical abilities. Before I got too side-tracked on the team name, I gladly went along with Levy's train of thought.

"You think?" I said whilst laughing. Still having the magic book grasped in my right hand, I figured I should give it back to her, and I did. Whilst transferring the atlas-like book over to Levy, she handed back the bandages, which were supposed to be temporarily removed, in her hand, same for me with her belongings. A little exchange of who we both were.

I must say I didn't expect things to go down like that on that afternoon.

* * *

A couple of minutes, we came back down to the 'training grounds', as I like to call it, through the same way we left just earlier. It was approaching night time as the twilight darkness started to invade the once lit-up area, honestly it felt a bit depressing imagining the thought of darkness overwhelming light. _Is it a constant reminder of how the world works?_ Drowsiness started to poison my mind with stupidly deep brain storms again, yawning being my damning evidence. I didn't blame myself for being tired in that moment, only the snow white-haired ape who threw a bucket of water in my face and made me run Lord knows how far was the one who deserved the accusations. Speaking of, there was no sign of the human giant roaming around his hunting place, that being his own home. Even if you couldn't see him, you could certainly feel the presence he carried with him, like some tyrannical dictator standing proudly over his chaos-driven nation.

Noting that Levy and I were the only humans in the middle of the wilderness, I figured that we should say our goodbyes.

"Sorry for taking up your time back there" How long we spent wondering around the forest was a mystery; I never asked how long I was in that state of shock. It would have been quite awkward to say the least.

"It's fine. I didn't really have anything to do in the first place." At least that was a sign for me to calm myself down.

"Tell you what, to make things up for you, I'll gladly tag along on your next mission. I mean, I won't be of much use but I'll certainly do my best to help!" I tensed up, awaiting her response. The thought of actually doing a mission with someone else was appealing, especially under the fact that my solo mission didn't really go that great. Secretly, I was maliciously grinning inside that I could sneak some hellish training time away from Elfman, if he was fine with it and everything.

"Well me, Jet and Droy were thinking of this one mission, I'll tell you later at the guild about it. I'm actually completely drained." She gave a petite, nervous laugh after admitting her exhaustion.

"Sure. And don't worry about me hurting myself. I'll be fine, hopefully." There was no way I could be certain about my own welfare under any circumstance. After that we said our farewells to each other.

 _What a lovely girl._

* * *

Next thing I knew, I was entering Elfman's 'tree' house, mildly quaking in anger at how he kept his door open when anyone could barge in. Subsequently, a thought bubble displaying how the brute 'took care' of burglars appeared above my head. _Nah he'll be fine._

The familiar sounds of chirping graced my ears, my eyes greeted with a familiar figure sitting half-asleep on his couch. After hearing the creaks of the floorboards underneath my feet, he straightened his posture like I just smashed through his window or something.

"Ah, you're back." Yeah, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out, like Elfman was ever a genius to begin with.

"Did you think I wouldn't be?" I said whilst crossing my arms against my chest, a little bitter about him disregarding my existence. Suddenly, a burning pain pierced my left ear. "Yowch!" I could hear the flapping of wings overlapping the bite in my skin.

"The bird bites by the way"

"You could have told me earlier!" I channelled the pain I was feeling into a huge sigh which mixed with a yawn. To be honest, I was lucky this parakeet didn't do this when I was hiding last night, not that it would have mattered anyway.

"He only does that to people he doesn't like" Elfman informed with a slither of spite towards me, I just stood there laying a hand on the burn like I didn't want to hear anymore. "How was your romantic getaway?" He enquired with the smuggest look I've ever seen. If he was planning on making me feel awkward, he sure was successful. The heat from my burning ear was replaced by my entire face igniting with blushes.

"It went just fine just so you know" I sarcastically replied, hopefully not allowing myself to fall victim to his teasing. I hung up my jacket on the coat rack next to the entrance, my backpack was situated below the hooks ever since morning.

It did dawn on my mind whether I should talk about the pain I felt earlier, but to be honest, Elfman would have been better off not knowing. Besides, Levy and Mira were the ones who were so willing to help me out on that matter.

"Now move. I need to get some well-needed sleep" I ordered whilst gesturing my hand towards his own sleeping quarters. He gratefully already got the sofa-bed ready for me (maybe that's why he seemed asleep when I came in).

"Fine. I've got some more exercises in store for tomorrow."

"Oh. Yeah. About that..." I went on to explain about the mission I would have with Levy that very day. Elfman seemed more positive about it than I expected, excluding the initial annoyed glare he sent me.

"Sure, about time you pay me back for letting you crash here" He was standing on the border of both his bedroom and the lounge.

"WAIT WHAT?!"

"Good night!" Elfman cheered whilst slamming his bedroom door behind him. My eye twitched with dread, every bone in my body was shaking like it was the middle of winter in this room.

" _Crap! He probably wants the money I splashed on Soul Shelters as well!"_ After a few minutes of just standing there in denial, I finally summoned the willpower within me to curl into a ball on the couch and try my best to get some shut eye. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy.

* * *

 **Continued in Chapter 11 "The Bookworm and The Lone Wolf**

 **Next chapter will hopefully cover the entire next mission with Shadow Gear; then hopefully onto Phantom Lord!**

 **Please PM me if you have any ideas or suggestions for this story, it would be greatly appreciated.**

 **See you next chapter!**


	11. The Bookworm and the Lone Wolf

**Now, I'm starting to write longer chapters now since I feel like not a lot happens per chapter. Maybe it's just my way of writing but I'm not sure XP**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters or settings. I only claim my OC Rai.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 11 - The Bookworm and the Lone Wolf**

Bizarre sounds of flowing water echoed all around me. My eyes opened quickly, seeing the familiar leather of the sofa I was lying on, yet something felt off. Adjusting my position into a sitting one, I took a closer look at the environment. The scent in the air stank of salt and damp clothes; crying seagulls flew above me. Looking away from the furniture I saw something which went beyond human comprehension. Miles of surrounding ocean stretched out over the horizon, sparkling under the sun like diamonds. Not a single piece of civilization was in sight. The expression on my face was absolutely horrifying.

"Wait" To say the least, I was incredibly confused. If I wasn't being puzzled about my current predicament, I would have been fighting a full-on panic attack about my own health.

"How the hell did I even get out here?! And how on earthland is this stupid sofa still afloat?!" The couch was abused by my stamping foot, desperate to make it move. I felt betrayed by the laws of buoyancy acting against me. Damn you education! Don't panic was what I kept telling myself over and over again, everything happens for a reason after all. Despair soon returned to my psyche after witnessing a whirlpool forming dead ahead of me. "Oh no"

An enormous, darkly tanned human hand crept out of the fissure in the ocean; it didn't take long for it to cast a shadow big enough to envelop me in darkness. I completely froze up, nervously sweating about the entity dragging me down into the abyss. "What is this?!" I said as I approached my belt. Nothing there! As soon as my fate was sealed I heard a familiarly deep voice echoing from the whirlpool.

"MONEEEEEY!" The bass resonated like it could have come from anywhere. Out of nowhere, I heard a more feminine voice in front of me.

"Oh my, you're in a bit of a tight spot here" A blue-eyed, white haired girl said whilst sipping her drink, very casual compared to what was behind her.

"When did Mira get here?!"

"He sure gets mad about people not paying his money back" She teased with a smile on her face.

"Gah! But I don't have any! Those words only spurred the impending danger to take further hold. The fingers started to close around the space I was in. A cheerful 'good luck' beeped from where Mira previously was, probably gone away from the giant hand.

My doom finally arrived.

"Wait stop! AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I bolted upwards on my bed in a cold sweat, heavily panting from witnessing a fictional near-death situation become reality. Running my hands around my body ensured I still had all my limbs attached, well for one of them I wouldn't have minded.

"Whew, just a nightmare"

It wasn't even daylight outside, probably the early hours of the morning judging from how dark it was. Miraculously, it seemed that me apparently screaming didn't wake up either the bird or its owner, he must have been quite the heavy sleeper. I gave a relieved yet weighty sigh.

"It's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" I whispered to myself, settling myself into another round of slumber. Before I faded out of consciousness, I recollected my current financial situation; a frown replaced my straight expression.

"This job better pay something good or I'm dead"

Luckily, falling asleep for a second time proved to be way more successful than the last. For the first time in a long while I felt completely refreshed, despite the abrupt awakening a few hours prior, my muscles slightly aching from yesterday. No better condition to be ready for a job. After getting a quick bite to satisfy my appetite, just in case Elfman didn't feel up to making another gourmet meal, I spotted a note posted on the bird cage. It read...

" _I didn't want to wake you up so I headed over to the guild by myself. You might want to get moving so you can meet up with Levy and the others. Try and not to get yourself killed today, I need someone to pay me money for crashing at my place, otherwise they shouldn't be called real men!"_

I figured as much. Not to be picky or anything but why was his handwriting so bad? Was he in a rush? What I didn't know was that an extra sentence was sitting at the bottom of the scrap paper.

 _P.S Natsu and Erza are fighting today_

...

...

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!"

Arriving at Magnolia, I just finished pulling up my trousers as a result from rushing from my temporary home immediately, the stupid backpack slowing me down. The fact that the Salamander himself and an S-Class mage could be fighting any second, without me being there to see it, made my blood boil with determination to run as fast as my little legs could carry me. I guessed Elfman would probably be there as well, I mean come on, this is the same guy who commented on Natsu being weak and Erza being strong, of course he would go to their contest to prove his point.

Sure enough, I followed the traces of flames and clashing sounds of steel throughout the city atmosphere and found myself buried in a ring of onlookers. Because of my reasonably short stature, seeing the epic battle taking place proved to be a little difficult. But the times I did see...

Breath-taking.

Natsu was prime and ready with his fire-engulfed fists and Erza was cladded in a suit of armour with a colour scheme similar to my own Salamander. Guessing from that fact, the armour must have been resistant to fire-based attacks which were Natsu's forte. However, the dragon slayer stayed confident and brash despite his disadvantage. A flurry of flames and sparks flew around the small arena, making me slightly panic about getting hit by the blasts.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see a little sign which displayed the bets for the event; obviously Erza's side was filled to the brim compared to Natsu's. I felt bad for him in a way, how the two of these people fought was completely unknown to me; it was anyone's game. But I bet the other members of the guild thought differently.

Whilst seeing two extremely wizards fight would make anyone happy, I couldn't help but feel slightly down about not being anywhere near their level. I wouldn't actually need to fight them to know I am a pushover. So this is how S-Class wizards fight, I thought with a disheartened look.

"It's a good fight, huh?" Elfman said next to me. Considering how tall he is, I was ashamed about my observation skills for not noticing him standing right beside me. Gray and Lucy were also there.

"It sure is." I replied, hiding the hopeless tone in my voice.

"This fight sucks" Gray remarked with a bore, a black and white canvas appeared in the form of my face (kanji above me saying shocked). I completely forgot that the ice wizard wasn't particularly fond of the sakura-haired mage, it could have been the best fight in history and he still would have said that.

"Oh yeah, sorry for slapping you earlier!" Lucy apologized whilst bowing.

"You did?! When?!"

"It's a long story" Gray consoled.

" _Come on brain! Work with me!"_ I lightly knocked my skull a few times in a ridiculous attempt of jogging my memory.

However, there were more pressing matters at hand. Natsu and Erza were about to clash. Fire against fire.

" _Here it comes!"_

My anticipation was haltered by a gong sounding off from somewhere in the swarming crowd.

"This fight is over!" An amphibian creature walked out onto the former battlefield with parchment in hand, the civilians and other wizards made extra effort to move out the way. Apparently, this frog-like entity was sent here on the magic council's behalf. I had no clue that there were people (?) like this in today's government. Levy and the rest of her team were stunned by someone this important showing up to a brawl. Lucy seemed kind of baffled.

"Am I the only one that noticed she's a frog?!" The blonde wizard questioned. I thought it funny to retaliate to that.

"Hey I have a salamander that shivers, what do you think of that?!" I held out the mentioned species in the palm of my hand. It showed signs of neglect (blue squiggly lines above its head), I immediately apologized to the lizard.

Referring back to why the amphibian was here, Erza was involved in some event which I had no idea about, the 'Eisenwald' incident. That name was quite familiar with me; I knew that they were some dark guild which had a vendetta against the rules. Yet I wondered what this so-called 'incident' was.

"Erza Scarlet, you are under arrest!" Natsu expressed exactly what I thought. One of Fairy Tail's strongest wizards was being taken into custody?!

After the commotion ended, the guild being left Erza-less, I sat extremely quietly next to Levy, Jet and Droy on one of the guild tables.

"So what was this Eisenwald incident again?" I awkwardly asked.

"You might wanna read for yourself" She said whilst passing a newspaper and her glasses. Whilst reading, I quietly mumbled most of the article.

 _"Today saw the disbandment of the notorious Eisenwald guild with most of the members being arrested for their attempts of assassinating the Fiore Guild Masters...The four wizards responsible for the apprehension: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet left behind a trail of destruction, resulting in..._

"THEY BLEW UP THE GUILD MEETING HALL?!" All of Team Shadow Gear held a finger in front of my mouth, shushing my surprisingly loud remark which shattered the dead silence of the guild. Even though Fairy Tail was famous, or should I say infamous, for destroying everything wherever their wizards went, this was just ridiculous! Screw Elfman's rent money! I need to start paying off everyone's prison sentences! Since I was going to be staying at this guild for quite some time, I worried that I would actually turn into a monster which wrecked anything I touched just like the other mages here.

After noticing how loud I was, I confessed to the entire hall about my mistake, especially because of noticing the waterfall of tears pouring from the master's eyes. I guessed he wasn't all too proud of the destructive feat.

"Master Makarov doesn't want to be reminded about that" Jet responded.

"I guess that job we're doing is going to be postponed" My face turned into a frown.

"Yeah, but don't worry, we normally get out of these tight spots alright." Droy comforted. The only word I took with a grain of salt was 'normally'. What if this wasn't one of those lucky times, I pondered.

"He's right, we'll be just fine" Levy added.

I sighed, wondering about how bright, or dim, my future at Fairy Tail would be.

"I sure hope you're right"

A couple of minutes later, the pink salamander that was being entrapped in a glass on the bar, which we initially thought was Natsu so he wouldn't try to go to the court building where Erza was, turned out to be the old man Macao. Noticing how he can change himself into an animal heavily inspired me about my future capabilities. The possibilities opened up. But if Macao was here, then Natsu wasn't. I figured he was already wreaking havoc elsewhere. Not again.

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens" Makarov uttered with a sense of dread.

 _"We're dead"_

Waiting didn't really sit well with me. So what else could I do? I couldn't do a mission Levy and co since they wouldn't want to be disrespectful to Erza's absence, the same went for everyone else. Elfman would probably be busy with whatever he does in his spare time. It dawned on me.

" _I have a day to myself and I have no idea how to spend it!"_

Finally, my memory actually kicked itself back into gear as I recalled my private conversation with Levy.

" _Ah ha! The library!"_ I concluded with me hitting my palm with a fist. After an awkward session of asking around the different mages for directions I found myself at a separate room of the guild.

Skyscraper bookshelves surrounded the walls, thank goodness there was a ladder of a similar size resting against the back wall. The shelves were sculptured out of a lightly coloured wood, towering over me with an intimating presence. (A/N insert Attack on Titan opening theme here?)

 _"Now what was that book called?"_ I scanned my finger against the book spines, muttering the first letter to each word of the targeted manual. _"Bingo!"_ My feet were aligned with the midpoint of the tall bookshelf.It was then I realized that I should have got the wind reading glasses first. _"Oh well, I'll get them later today. Now, is there anything on monsters in here?"_ Flipping through the pages, I arrived at my destination. _"Ah! This is perfect! Why didn't I think of this earlier?"_

"Would you want that book?" The voice caught me way off guard, since I was so focused on the parchment in my hands, causing me to wobble off the ladder. I made a giant 'thwump' noise with the floor. "Oh goodness, are you OK?" She said with concern. A random book was laid across my face, probably the one I was holding a few seconds prior.

"Yeah I'm fine" Truth or lie, it didn't matter. Moving the obstruction off my head, I found Mirajane standing over me, her hand covering her mouth. "Um, don't mind me. Just reading some books" I chuckled awkwardly whilst holding the book in front of me. Mira gladly pulled me up. She gently took the book out of my hands.

"Magical injuries and wounds? You're still wondering about your arm?"

"Oh no, not at all. It's just that I haven't read a lot of books and I thought something like this would be good to know for the stuff I'm doing." I explained whilst getting lifted onto my feet. Knowing that the life of a wizard is a dangerous and hectic one, well it made sense considering what happened to me a few days ago, it would be beneficial to stock up on topics like this very book. You know what they say, knowledge is power.

"Hmm, in that case, you should probably get some more." After Mira finished explaining about what I should research, I felt an odd, weightless sense around my neck. There wasn't any cold steel chilling my skin. Dread stung every fiber of my body.

"Oh no! Where is it! My necklace! Mirajane! Help me look for it!" I threw all of the books, which piled up on the ground from earlier, away from wherever I'd been. Worry was making me act like a mad man. No luck at all.

"Found it!" Mirajane held up the silver medallion in her hands, that one sight drained all of the panic out of my system, it must have somehow went off my head when I fell down. I immediately snatched it out of her hands, she was probably quite offended by that, wrapping my hands around the piece of precious jewelry.

"Thank goodness! I thought I lost it" I then looked upwards to witness Mirajane's concerned expression. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to snatch it out of your hands like that!

"Oh no it's totally fine. It's quite valuable to you then?" She said with intrigue yet with a tone indicating that showed she didn't want to pry. Part of me wanted to just not talk about something so personal, but as usual the honest, obedient side of me won out.

"Er yeah, it's a birthday present from my mom and dad. It's the only thing I have of them with me."

"How sweet. Are they doing OK?" An invisible twitch triggered in my body, almost like it was shock. It's not like I was on bad terms with them or anything like that. Two years. That's how long it's been since we've had one of our goofy talks. Geez, it made me feel nostalgic about how energetic I was back then. Now look at me.

"Yeah, I like to think that they are. I promised them two years ago that I would become a great wizard they could be proud of" Where I wanted that to be the actual truth, it wasn't. 'Why' you may ask. Well, that's a subject for another time. I hung the reminder of my family over my head once again.

"Well I know you will" Mira chirped with reassuring notes.

"You OK down there? I heard some banging!" Mira and I turned to look to the top of the stair case, seeing the bookworm Levy resting against the banister. I simply told her what really happened, well excluding the necklace hunt.

"Oh! I just wanted to talk to you!" I shouted up to her since I was a considerable distance from the library entrance. Proceeding, I zipped around the bookshelves, swiping up any book which interested me: history of magic, magic itself, myths and legends. All of that amounted to a heap of books on the table in the middle of the room. Only super strength could lift them all at once. "Can you help me carry these?"

"Oh goodness, you certainly want to read more don't you?"

The rest of the day was spent researching the books I borrowed, noting everything in my trusty notepad. This was filled to the brim with strengths and weaknesses of all the beasts I've encountered, as well a log of my advancements in ability and personal achievements. Going to sleep that night proved more troublesome, knowing that the queen of fairies herself was probably facing jail time.

Going along the bustling streets of Magnolia, I figured I should finally get those glasses I've wanted. Luckily, I got a pair, the only downside being that they weren't blue!

 _"These should make reading all those books a snap! What a bargain, too!"_ I only spent a couple hundred jewel on them.

Nearing the guild hall, I started to feel drowsy. At first I thought it was the rough sleep I got, but then I sensed hints of magic energy. My vision was blurry, fluttering capes beside me. After the mysterious figure past me, a massive weight lifted off my body, freeing my movements from fatigue. Instantly looking back, I raised an eyebrow noticing the ludicrous amount of staves on his back, his image shrouded in heavy clothing. He must have not wanted me to see him, putting me under a sleep spell like that. Judging from the energy I sensed alone, I knew that this person was not someone to be messed with.

 _"Strange guy"_

With that weird experience out of the way, I eventually entered the guild, only to be welcomed with a hostile atmosphere. I was glad to see that Erza and Natsu were back from yesterday's fiasco. Maybe it was just a warning from the council, I thought. However, that wasn't the main issue. Them, along with everyone else, were looking up towards the second floor of the guild. The man who gained everyone's attention didn't look like a kind one: yellow, spiked up hair, a fur coat similar to mine, and his eye was etched with a lightning bolt for a scar (a dead giveaway of his magic). He was casually resting against the railing with a devil's smirk.

"Who's the pipsqueak down there?" The unknown man proclaimed to the entire guild, making all of the members of gaze at me. Every pair of eyes which looked at my nervous being was like a knife slowly plunging into my skin, even if all of them were friendly towards me. (kanji saying 'shiver' appeared around my figure) What do I say?!

"Um, I-I'm R-Rai." The utter intimidation was destroying me. Simply talking to an S-Class wizard was enough to make me quake. "P-Pleased t-to m-make y-your a-acquaintance" I raised my arm robotically, idiotically offering a handshake from so far away.

"Yeah right, like I have time to waste with a weakling" Those harsh words sliced through me, like I was chopped into pieces with a sword. I dropped my arm down in rejection. "Aren't you the one who got mocked by a monkey? Geez, the wizards Fairy Tail is picking up are getting worse and worse" He continued.

"Laxus! Go easy on him, he only just joined the other day!" Mirajane shouted up to him. This was the first time I saw the innocent girl look genuinely angry. So this was Laxus, huh? The one who was apparently the grandson to Master Makarov himself? Judging from how cruel he's being, I would never have thought they were flesh and blood.

"It's his fault he wanted to join, if he wants to get himself killed, that's fine by me. I don't care what happens to him." Was he really S-Class? He's more like that guy you would find on the street who makes you question what's wrong with humanity. If a wizard of his caliber was telling me that the only route for me was failure and death, maybe there wouldn't be much good in trying. "If this was a strong guild, he would have been thrown out like trash"

Trash. Something of no value. Something that people look at with disgust. Something which should be eradicated from existence. That was what I was being called right now.

"For me, I like my trash to be..." He raised his hand, his fingers in a snapping gesture.

"...Fried" With the click came the thunderclap. Lightning pierced through my body, inside felt like I was being ripped apart, it was like I was in the middle of a lightning storm, taking every single merciless bolt thrown at me. I screamed, one of the worst pains I've ever experienced. That one second felt like an eternity, my hell sent me flying backwards. My back collided with the floor. My name was being shouted in multiple voices, most likely them coming to my aid.

I couldn't even move, paralysis restricting all of my muscles and bones. Nothing but black filled my vision since I was forcing my eyes closed to deal with the pain. After a few seconds, I could finally move. Even if I just went through hell, just standing up would help me out of this mess.

"Come on! Are you alright?!" Elfman was shouting at me. I didn't know why, but when I opened my vision I shoved his big arms away in anger.

"Get off me! I don't need your help!" Even Elfman was slightly taken back with how mad my tone was. I know he meant the best intentions, but at the time I thought he was doing it out of pity for someone so worthless. I stood up with my back away from everyone else.

"Wait Rai! Don't leave!" Mira screamed knowing exactly what I was doing.

"Just leave me alone! If no one wants to waste their breath on me, then fine!" The absolute hatred in my eyes said it all. I burst out of the entrance, sniffling with teary eyes. Master Makarov's fury toward Laxus could be heard outside.

But you know what, I didn't give a single damn about what was being said. I just wanted to escape the place where everyone inside, deep down, didn't care about me or who I was. Only about my strength.

That day I learnt that absolutely nothing has changed from my childhood days.

No one wants to bother with someone so useless.

 **Continued in Chapter 11 "Bottle It Up"**

 **Wow, I actually made myself feel bad about my own character. Hope he gets better after this.**

 **Please PM me if you have any suggestions or ideas!**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	12. Bottle It Up

**Hello again! My consistency of uploading these chapters is horrible, isn't it? XP**

 **For this chapter I'll be trying something new: you may have noticed in some chapters that I attempted to use anime-like elements (for example, mentioning kanji, expressions, etc.) I did this to hopefully make it easier to visualise the story like the actual Fairy Tail anime, emphasis on 'hopefully'. To add to this, I've decided to use stingers for the start and the end of the chapter, and list opening and ending themes. If any of you don't like this idea, we can all pretend this didn't happen.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters or settings. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima. I only claim my OC Rai.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **(Elfman speaking) Previously on Beast Prince...**_

 _ **Rai finally met a S-Class wizard, and actually talked to him as well, unfortunately it had to be Master Makarov's grandson, Laxus. Now the poor guy has run off to god knows where. A real man should check up on him!**_

 _ **"If no one wants to waste their breath on me, then fine!"**_

 **(Opening Theme: Katekyo Hitman Reborn OP 1 - "Drawing Days" By "Splay")**

* * *

 **Chapter 12 – Bottle It Up**

* * *

I found myself surrounded by the familiar trees of the East Forest, the place I had my first and only job so far. All I did when I stormed out of the guild was run. Not a care in the world about where I would turn up, as long as it wasn't around those people. Thinking about all of them looking at me with those daggers for eyes. Those pitiful looks, like I was a stray dog that wondered into the wrong alleyway. They didn't care about me, did they? They're just like the other wizards in this damn continent: people who use the unfortunate for their own personal gain, thriving off weaker civilians' pleas for help, prancing around with their power like carefree gods among us mere mortals. People like that just piss me off.

Me? I haven't and will never become that self-absorbed.

 _"If I'm so weak, what's the damn point of trying?!"_ My right fist smashed into the nearest tree, shattering the bark as best as I could. That feeling known as pain was my holy saviour, driving me to keep hitting the wood as hard as I could for as many times as I could. Under gritted teeth and clenched shouts of anger, a white hot pain repeatedly surged from my hand, through my wound and to my brain. Every punch was thrown at whoever my imagination conjured onto the warped tree: Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, that Laxus jerk. And then that familiar scar-reddened face appeared in my mind. The one who had helped me ever since I became a wizard.

 _"And him! He never cared about me for a second!"_ I winded up my next strike; my hand stung like hell. _"He just wanted to use me to make himself look good!"_ Tears started streaming down both of my cheeks. _"_ THAT!" One. "SELFISH!" Two. "BASTARD!" Three. Each count came the crunch of bark splintering my knuckles. I slumped onto my knees, resting my forehead several inches below my previous target, sobbing to my heart's content. There wasn't anyone there to see so there was absolutely no point of worrying about embarrassment. I just let it all out.

To be honest, crying my eyes out was just proving Laxus's point: a guy who sheds tears every time they are called for what they are, weak, shouldn't even be allowed to go on perilous missions where they would die in a heartbeat.

I peeked at my right arm, growing bitter at the sight of worn, bloodied bandages. If I hadn't gotten myself injured, this situation would be a mere lie. If I hadn't got too self-confident, I wouldn't have gotten myself into this whole mess. The usual faces of my mother and father were blurry in my mind since I haven't seen them in so long, all because of my mistake. They probably thought I was a spoiled brat where magic was the only thing he could do to satisfy his over-glorified view of the world. That one day in X782 changed all that, changed who I was and made me see that I had to grow up and face the facts. In this world, it's survival of the fittest, no matter how you look at it. It's all just a life-long game of who gets screwed over more, regardless of how moral or immoral they are.

Nothing lasts forever. The good things and the bad.

Oak bark was greeted with the slam of my forehead. I cursed myself for being so naive and dumb. At this point, my knuckles were marked with bloody scabs, I was surprised I didn't go all the way and break my bones.

"I just..." My voice was strained with tears. "Mom? Dad? I'm so sorry for being such a fool, it's all my fault that you're both gone. I wanna pay you back for everything, you deserve so much more than what I've given you for bringing me up into this world. I'll make you proud, I swear."

...

"Your parents?" My mind switched quick, processing an aged voice, unfamiliar yet distinguishable. I peered over my shoulder, a minor pool of tears still sitting on my eyes, to see the incredibly short stature of Master Makarov standing a fair distance behind me. The fact I was being looked upon by the guild master himself forced me to wipe away whatever tears remained on my face. So embarrassing.

"Master?" I questioned whilst finally picking myself up off the ground, I was there so long that my knees majorly groaned. It struck me as odd that he left the guild just to visit me seemingly in the middle of nowhere. He looked scarily serious, obvious from his hands behind his back and his focused gaze "What are you doing all the way out here?" He remained silent for a quick silence, probably gathering his thoughts into one calm paragraph.

"What Laxus said was out of order. Safe to say, most people were furious, myself included. Being told something like that should be devastating for a newcomer." Well, fancy someone picking a dirt stain like me over their own family. "However, that was no reason for you to refuse help from your own guildmate and storm out the guild. If you think going the lone wolf route will help solve your problems, then you have a long way to go." So this was what it was like to be lectured, luckily in school I was never on the receiving side of one of these, times sure do change, huh?

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." I looked down at my shoes in shame, thinking that maybe not having to pick up Makarov's vision would help me get through this better, from what I remember, it didn't. In all seriousness, it felt like a different person was taking my place when I shoved that helpful hand aside. I couldn't really think of a logical reason why I acted all selfish and mean-spirited towards the very wizard who has been my closest friend so far. You're such an idiot was what my conscience repeated to me once again.

"It's understandable, but not necessarily acceptable. I've seen people like you start off innocent and kind who then turn out to be monsters who don't care about anyone else but themselves, you don't have to go down that path." Makarov further lectured. Arguing against his teachings would have been futile. It's true, behind some people's smiles hide an ugly being within them. Everyone has some kind of evil lying dormant inside, it's just that some people are more susceptible to it than others, forming today's population of official and dark guilds.

"You're right, I want to stay as far away from that path as possible, please understand that. It's just that…" I could feel the tears welling up again. "I promised myself that I would make my parents proud, whether I'm a wizard or working at some merchant guild. I want them to know I've led a fulfilled life, and to have that promise stomped all over by someone stronger than me…I lost control of all the anger I've held back for a long time." My eyes felt watery, ashamed of how I acted like a delayed time bomb triggered by hostility and rage in front of all my fellow guild mates.

"Rai, the fact you overcame your disadvantages, made that leap forward and made some friends is bound to make your parents proud. If they are the reason you are fighting, never forget that whether your past or future might be bleak, there's no better time than the present to hold your head up high and have the courage to push on forward!"

I looked up at him with enlightenment, struck with how powerful Master's speech was. It felt like a massive weight of paranoia was lifted off my shoulders. Even though I didn't speak the full truth about my own past, those words still resonated with me, I felt like a new man. But still, it doesn't change the fact that the guild members back in Magnolia might not have been as supportive as Makarov was. Regardless, my fists balled up, my teeth clenched and my eyes shut, forcing the tears of sorrow back and embracing the tears of joy.

"Thank you very much, Master! I'll do my best, you can bet your life on that!" I screamed at the top of my little voice, like I was demanding any negative energy within me to go away and never come back. That was one of the best feelings I've had in a long while. 2 years of nothingness was dispelled in one mighty shout of conviction.

"It looks like my job here is done" Makarov said with satisfaction, almost like he was speaking to himself, I wasn't really sure. I raised an arm to my eyes, absorbing the liquid which embodied my darkness, like I was free from ever experiencing such emotions ever again. Through whatever part of my face that my master could see, my mouth crooked into a teary smile. Makarov responded with a tiny one. Ever since I joined Fairy Tail, it's been a violent 'screw you' to my past timid, over-apologetic self and replaced it with a more confident and selfless person. I couldn't be any more grateful for that. My life needed this.

"Oh, this was a message I got from Levy, she wanted to know if you were OK." Makarov handed to me what seemed like a blank scrap piece of parchment from God knows where, however, on closer inspection, was a fancily-written letter. I shot a look of interest, shocked by how Levy was looking out for me even though I acted like a complete jerk back at the guild.

The message read: _Hey Rai. I'm not sure how you are feeling right now but I know that you going through a rough time given your circumstances. Please know that everyone back at Fairy Tail are worried about you: me, Jet, Droy, the master, everyone. Take as much time as you need to feel better, but if you are up to it then visit us outside of Magnolia. I made sure to pay extra attention in picking the job, it should be right up your alley._

At first I was perplexed about the word 'job', if I was still feeling mad then not giving me the specifics about said mission would be illogical, no offence to her. Then I flipped the piece of parchment, the message was written on the back of a job request.

" _ **Looking for a remnant of a special monster located around my hometown. Willing to pay high reward depending on preserved condition of the retrieved item."**_ There was an image of a creature seemingly made out of rocks similar to my rock bear but the rocks appeared more ancient, other than that there's any so much an image can indicate on the real thing. Nevertheless, this seemed like a perfect job for me to lift my spirits back up after they were shot down earlier. But enough about me, this would be a good opportunity to create a stronger bond with my fellow guild mates. I mean, I wanted to be part of a team besides with Elfman ever since my first job proved to be a success. Humbleness graced my face.

"So, what's your answer?" Makarov asked with a slick inkling about my response, he definitely must have guessed what it was judging from the dignified smile spread across my face.

"You bet!"

* * *

 **(Ending Theme: Boku No Hero Academia ED 1 – "HEROES" By "Brian The Sun")**

 **(Levy, Jet and Droy speaking)**

 **Levy: I hope Rai is OK. He couldn't turn down a mission like this.**

 **Jet: Well even if he doesn't show up, we've still got the three of us. Isn't that Levy?**

 **Droy: Hey back off, man! You've gotta treat a lady with more respect!**

 **Jet: I don't see you doing any better**

 **Levy: *sighs***

 **NEXT TIME: "Turning of the Shadow Gears"**

 **Droy: You need to show your support to her like this! *gets pom poms* GO! GO! LEVY!**

 **Jet: Since when were you a cheerleader?!**

* * *

 **Sorry for making this another short one, I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any more. I need to write faster. The next chapter should definitely be out faster than the usual rate since I'm on an inspiration roll. When I finish this mission with Shadow Gear then I can write a bunch of chapters on Phantom Lord.**

 **Please PM me if you have any ideas or improvements to suggest to me! Please let me know if the new additions I've used are OK with you guys!**

 **I hope you enjoyed! See you next time!**


	13. Turning of the Shadow Gears

**Yeah I know, I'm sorry. I'll admit, I gave up on this story in order to focus on life stuff. To make up for it, have a ultra mega extra long chapter! Yeah it's still not that overly long, is it? Oh screw it, I'm getting back into it now.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters or settings. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima. I only claim my OC Rai.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **(Rai speaking) Previously on Beast Prince…**_

 _ **I didn't have the best of times when it came to meeting an S-Class wizard. But thanks to some encouragement from Master Makarov, I now have a chance to prove my place in the guild!**_

" _ **You bet!"**_

 **(Opening Theme: Katekyo Hitman Reborn OP 1 – "Drawing Dats" By "Splay")**

* * *

 **Chapter 13 – Turning Of The Shadow Gears**

* * *

Walking out of that forest was an odd experience. I entered that place in a sorry state, only to leave it a changed and determined man. Having that thought in my head made me realise how much Fairy Tail has truly altered me, from the way I act and, soon, how I managed my potential power.

Kicking the pebbles on the cobblestone path kept my mind occupied off the stress of coming face-to-face with one of my friends again. What should I say? How will they act? You know, normal stuff to think when you do something truly worthy of a jerk in front of your friends. I once again examined the job request, pondering about how this would turn out.

" _I made sure to pay extra attention in picking the job, it should be right up your alley."_ Levy's writing echoed in my mind, acting as some form of therapy. The reward was quite high given that it was a small-scale monster slaying request. Maybe, just maybe, this would be more of a challenge than I took it for.

Adding to my concern, I grew wary of my bloody hands. They were given extra coverage with bandages, even then, I settled them into my jacket pockets in order to conceal them from my future comrades. Thinking back on it, it was idiotic since I was going to have to show them at some point during our mission together.

Ahead of me, standing in front of the entrance to Magnolia, were three people: a short, blue-haired female seemingly bickering with two taller men, one wore a furry hat whereas the other had a weird antenna-like feature in his hair. They needed no introduction, in fact, I've already had one from them. Team Shadow Gear, the somewhat popular team of the guild, was awaiting my return. How long were they waiting there, I wondered?

A smile crooked my lips, displaying how heart-warmed I felt upon seeing my future comrades following their promise. That smile grew wider when all three of them noticed me approaching the gates. Levy started running towards me with a cheerful expression graced upon her face, clearly happy to see me (not meaning to sound egotistical).

"Rai!" Levy shouted. Jet and Droy were quick to follow after her.

"How's it going?" I casually greeted, completely countering the bad attitude I had earlier. Levy and co responded in a similar fashion.

"Are you alright now?" Levy cautiously questioned.

"Yeah I'm fine, honestly. I mean, Master Makarov had to talk some sense into me but really I'm fine."

"Well that's good, you had us a bit worried back at the guild." Jet innocently joked.

"Yeah no kidding, it may sound extreme but we thought you left for good." Droy added. Speaking of people being worried…

"I…I didn't hurt anyone back there, did I?" Regret striked once again as I thought back to earlier. Levy comically panicked, waving her hands horizontally.

"No of course not!" Her shaking halted to add to her tone. "Everyone understands how you felt, we don't blame you for what happened." Her hands approached mine in order to soothe my apprehensive actions. Imagine their shock when they saw my busted hands reveal themselves from my clothing.

"What happened to your hands?!" Jet and Droy yelled in unison.

"Sorry, I just wanted to vent my anger out, I'm normally not that angry around other people." Levy carefully glided her tiny hands over my own, easing the pain just slightly.

"Are you sure you still want to go on this job?" Levy asked.

"Sure, in fact, when have I ever fought with my own hands?" That statement may have seemed true to Team Shadow Gear, yet several images popped up in my mind which contradicted that very statement: me defeating the Vulcan with the Beast Arm, Elfman proclaiming about how real men use their fists, yeah you get the point.

Levy, Jet and Droy all looked at each other hesitant about if it was really a good idea to still bring me along, but I guessed they figured that it was fine if I really wanted to continue.

And so, reluctantly, began my first team mission. A lot of first time events have happened to me over the past few days, this was just another one to check off the list. With a new mission came a new location for us four to travel to. Already I was starting to understand the structure of these jobs, not that I was assuming or anything.

* * *

 **Step one:** **Travel to the client's location**. Team Shadow Gear and I got into the nearest commercial carriage we could find, only to be driven off to our destination. The carriage was suitably sized, well, if everyone who got into it was Levy's size then it would have been fine. Me, as well as Jet and Droy, were just barely fitting onto our seats. Me and Levy took the one side, Jet and Droy the other. On the other hand, Levy was sitting comfortably in her leather seat, marginally giggling at our hijinks. At least the sandwiches she brought along made the trip a little more bearable.

"Did you make these? They're really tasty." My words somehow managed to make themselves presentable behind all of my mumbling. Geez I need to work on my manners a bit.

"Oh, Mirajane made these, makes those prices a lot more worth it, doesn't it?" Levy answered modestly. Huh, given that she's the barmaid at Fairy Tail, I wondered how good of a cook she was. I say cook even though there isn't any cooking involved when it concerns sandwiches out of all food. I figured that Elfman's culinary skills from a few nights ago ran in the family after all. Then again, thinking of those two made me worry again.

"I really screwed up in front of them, huh." Immediately after, Jet intervened in my juvenile mope.

"Dude, there's nothing to worry about, by the time we get back we'll probably be laughing about the whole thing." His voice was slightly strained from being crushed up against the ceiling besides Droy.

"Yeah I know, I just worry about these types of things." Subsequently, I munched down on my sandwich, possessing a face that can only be gifted through experiencing the Strauss' cooking. That face in particular was a stupid smile and sparkling eyes.

"Are you having fun there?" Levy asked sarcastically, noticing how cramped I was on my seat. I couldn't really blame her; my face was literally pressed against the corner of the ceiling. Maybe we should've chose a better mode of transport…

"My heart goes out to Jet and Droy."

"You can say that again."

* * *

 **Step two: Receive information from the client.** Apparently we weren't heading towards a buzzing city, maybe on the cusp of our home town, but instead a forest which could have been the set of a horror play. Darkened, warped trees? Check. Forboding atmosphere? Double Check. Cries of charcoal black crows? Super check. And finally, a bunch of dumb teenagers wondering towards their inevitable doom? Ultra, mega check. As someone who wasn't really fond of this genre, oh who am I kidding I'm completely against it, my body shook as much that snowman spirit who followed Lucy around (what was its name again? Blue? If it was then he's in my good books).

"Umm, excuse me for asking, but where are we again?" Stammering was the best thing my voice could produce, masked by clattering teeth. Out of the many times I asked about our location, Levy was always the one I asked.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, this should be Blackroot. The person who sent this request lives in a hut not that far from here." Blackroot. That name alone made me shiver even more, forcing myself to cringe in fear.

"Even the name sounds scary." A haze even darker than the surrounding trees hovered over my skull. The two only male members of Team Shadow Gear walked ahead of us, acting as the brave, adventurous expeditioners seeking the spoils of our environment. Yeah right, from how our experience has been so far, the only thing they'll successfully seek is a free jump scare.

"It's alright you two, do not fear! I'll protect Levy!"

"That's my line you copycat!"

"Hey pal, if you want to help our lady, you need to be as brave as a lion!"

"You're only helping my copycat remark! And besides, I'm as calm as a sunny day!"

Well, I didn't know that these two acted like kindergarten kids. They're almost as bad as Natsu and Gray; I mean heavy emphasis on 'almost'. Finding a distraction from the petty squabble in front of me, my eyes picked up on a reasonably-sized hut just off the beaten path. It looked nearly big enough to be its own guild hall; why I say that is because the crooked building didn't possess either a guild logo or name. Besides, if it was a guild, why would they assign a monster-slaying job? They must have been quite weak if that was the case.

Seemingly forgetting about our two guild mates, Levy and I made our way off the main road towards the gothic-esque structure. Meanwhile, Jet and Droy were still in the middle of their battle of honour.

Fortunately, one of them managed to crane their heads away from their opponent to notice us missing. Excluding the brief phase of panic they had over losing their princess, we were reunited just fine.

A knock was graced upon the door by Levy. No response. Another knock. The response was much quicker yet the door didn't open. Instead, a metal peephole, just too tall for Levy to see through, slammed open just enough to startle us.

"What do ya kids want?" A bloodshot eyeball appeared through the gap, accompanied by a gravel-filled voice filled with disregard.

"We're here for the job you sent out, Fairy Tail?" Levy answered with a slight underlining of dread. Maybe it would have been better if someone of suitable height displayed the job request instead. The dirty-looking man on the other side certainly didn't expect a girl to be with us, he could only see the 3 boys of the team after all.

"You guys?" He gave a heavy sigh, almost like he was disappointed in what he received. "Guess it'll have to do. You see, my family has been having trouble with this rock golem. Damn thing won't leave us alone! It so happens, a certain part of them is worth a fortune and then some around these parts. If you four could bring it back here in one piece, I'll make it worthwhile for ya."

Compared to my last mission, this client was considerably more strange. He didn't even meet us in person and hid behind a door despite the absence of said monster at the moment. How he spoke didn't sound so appealing either, almost like he didn't want anything to do with us 'kids'. I guess I was a fool for expecting the same formal attitude from all my clients.

"Bring it back here by sundown. Now scram!" The metal viewpoint was slammed shut with the same intensity his voice contained.

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Droy remarked when we left the intense atmosphere of the client's home. Levy noticed the confused expression I had.

"Are you alright, Rai?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it just…wasn't what I expected." It seemed just about impossible for me to explain how I felt, I wasn't scared or anything like that. I just…felt that this whole situation was a bit 'sketchy'. The reward money on the job request. The location. The man who assigned us. All of it just didn't sit well with me. The only thing that kept me somewhat optimistic was the three bubbly people I had as teammates.

Now that I think about it, maybe this _was_ a horror play.

* * *

 **Step three: Resolve the situation.** Another thing that unnerved me was the absence of information about the monster's whereabouts. Luckily, I managed to come across a monster like that in one of those books from the library.

' _Golem: Entirely comprised of natural rocks, old and new, generally found in mountainous areas.'_

Thanks to Levy, there is one place I knew of in this doom and gloom forest which suited that criteria. That was the positives. The negatives, on the other hand, involved uphill walking. A LOT of uphill walking.

"Hagh, Hagh, must…keep…moving!" Each word was supported by a walking stick driven into the ground. Shame that the hollow branch I picked up couldn't support my walking that much. Never has my face been so drenched in sweatdrops in my life. My teammates looked at me with faces of humorous disappointment, like they were surprised I was having this much trouble. Well, all of them except Droy who was in the same spot of bother as me.

"How…much…further?!"

"Yeah, Columbus, we've…been walking…for 30 minutes straight!"

"You make it sound like that's a long time." Jet replied with irritation. It wasn't until I discovered his magic that I would understand how he was coping so well with this terrain. It wasn't exactly solid earth we were walking across, it seemed to have a certain viscosity to it, like you were walking through soggy sand bare-footed.

"Oh yeah? How… are you…doing this?! I've…lost my shoes twice! It's…a miracle that…Levy's hasn't disappeared yet!" That certain bookworm in question was too busy scanning a map of a forest to notice her feet almost buried in the stuff.

"They haven't, have they?!" Levy went into a desperate, if be it slightly comical, sweepstake of the ground she was currently standing on. Luckily, they were still there. So much sludge. "Aw, we should have brought extra pairs."

"What we should have brought was life insurance!"

"I thought you was an expert on these kind of missions." Jet remarked. A sensible assumption, given that they chose this mission with me in mind.

"My bear or hawk normally get me where I need to go. And expert? Don't know where you got that line from."

"So why not bring them out now?"

"Because I'm with you guys!" They all looked at me with a halted expression, matching their progress through the literal swamp. Weird. Oh wait, maybe that wasn't said with much thought. "Uh, I didn't mean that! You're all lovely, I swear!" Their faces returned to normal, thank goodness since it they were just two dots and a line a second prior. Puffing out air was my immediate relief. "Besides, I don't have much magic energy as it is, I doubt using it before fighting the monster will help." There was that reason, however, I also figured that walking would help kick my lazy butt into gear. Never minding my occasional moans, all that running during training started to pay off. Levy's voice peaked out of nowhere during my brief brainstorm.

"Hey guys! There's a light up ahead." Turning around, instead of two people only just now struggling with standing up, there was not a single soul. Two lonely branches were the only evidence. And then the next thing she probably saw was me and the others having a sloppy sprint up the slope. Now that I think about it, a light at the end of a long, dark walk?

Screw that! My salvation was just up this hill! A place I could put my hands on my knees, breath my lungs out and subsequently keel over from exhaustion! After basically trekking through a swamp for 20 minutes (I was so tired that I lost my sense of time, how unprepared.), anything which resembled earth at an angle less than 45 degrees would be heaven!

" _Almost there…! Come on…! There's no way these two can catch up with this lead!"_ Cheering myself like this was rarity to say the least. Then I found the reason why these moments are so few and far between.

"Outta the way! Jet coming through!" Almost like a lightning bolt, the person who owned the chanted name flashed past me, that in itself was an embarrassment given how ignorant I was, but that wasn't all.

"What the heck?! Wait wait wait wait guagh!" Tidal waves of murky sludge were tossed back towards my direction due to the resultant force of the speed mage's velocity. How big? At least my body height and more so. All of it. Slimy. Disgusting. Black stuff. On top of that, since I was majorly ahead of my other two team mates, they had more than enough time to dodge to the side behind some trees to dodge the literal tsunami rolling down the hill. A tsunami whose wrath carried me down a worthy amount of distance from the peak. "Help meeeeeeeeeee!"

" _ **Solid Script: Barrier!"**_ From whatever I could see, a turquoise wall entirely constructed out of the conjured word sprung up from the surface, somehow remaining spotless from not absorbing any of that 'black stuff'. While this may have sounded good initially, I was currently being stormed downhill at breakneck speed…

This is gonna hurt…

 _Kablonk!_

As well as acting as an obstruction, the barrier also filtered out the tar surrounding the human inside, which was me. However, that didn't stop the sticky substance from getting onto every part of my anatomy. If there was one thing to be grateful for, thank goodness I wasn't dragged back down to the bottom of this workout tower. What I was certainly not grateful for was the massive smash my body endured from the impact, leaving my already weak being stunned with pain. Face and pretty much everything else pressing against the wall, like a pesky bug on a windshield.

"Are you ok down there?! Wait, Droy?! Where's Droy?!"

"LEEEEEEEEEEEEVYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" The person in question wasn't in a much better situation than I was, sliding down the hill after narrowly dodging my incidental rampage. Levy had a mix of relief and dumbfounded-ness slapped across her face, panting out a worried sigh. Soon, Droy landed into the wall much more gracefully than me. Somehow, apart from Jet, the closer you were to the finish line, the more screwed you were at the end of it all. Levy was unharmed, Droy only lost his pride, and me…I lost both my previously healthy state and whatever dignity I had left.

* * *

 **5 minutes later…**

Well that serves me right for getting my hopes up.

Not only did I get cheated out of my victory over the trivial race, all I got for second place was a brand-new coating of sludge, a splitting headache and a revolting stench. At least one of them was being soothed by an ice pack Levy had handy.

"This is embarrassing. Even for me…" Before even fighting the monster, I felt defeated to the very core. Surely, battling the golem couldn't be as bad as this.

"Super embarrassing." Droy added on. He only possessed the former of the spoils, only not as horribly drenched in the stuff.

"Oh come on, it could've been worse." Levy encouraged with a hidden flavour of deceit. Yeah, I don't think it could have. Besides, there was something with her face that seemed off…

"Where did you get that nose peg from?! Droy and I both yelled simultaneously. Seriously? Again with the ominously in-time speaking? Maybe that curse somehow gotten from Elfman, to Levy and then by relation to Droy.

"It's just a solid script I made, I won't be able to make more of these. Sorry guys, you'll just have to bear with it." The black haze from earlier returned to its homestay over my cranium, this time accompanying Droy's too.

When we finally made it to the top of Hell Mountain (apt name is apt), what we were greeted with was a lonely Jet. Maybe he should become one of those street performers that acts like a statue, since he was doing one damn fine job of it.

"Umm, Jet? Hellooooooo? We know you won, you can stop gloating now…"

Peering around his overly fuzzy hat, in Levy's case his coat, a widely open clearing lied over the hilltop. That wasn't the most intriguing aspect, what was, however, was a pedestal standing in the center. A neat-looking mound of ancient rocks acted as the pillar for some specific purpose, glowing with a radiant, age-reddened light. What purpose? Most likely the cornerstone for the golem we were going to battle.

"What the…? What is that thing…?" Droy questioned like any normal person would. His buddy kindly obliged.

"Don't ask me, how should I know?" Did I say kindly? Never mind.

"Well it's certainly old from the looks of it. Hold on." I approached the glowing pillar like the worst ninja ever.

 _Nin-nin!_. Damn it, Natsu's story about he pretended to be a ninja started to rub off on me at this point.

Nevertheless, another odd aspect floated around the rock: peculiarly drawn symbols which shared the same holy light drifted between the cracks. A message? No idea.

"It's some kind of weird language. I can't read it."

"I can" A feminine voice cut me off. It was Levy's.

" _Oh yeah that's right, the first time I met her, she had all these different languages in front of her!"_

By some chance, one of those languages happened to fit whatever these letters represented. With her glasses at the ready, she thoroughly examined the writings. It was quite amazing how she could understand this stuff, I would've been stumped if I had to work with this language, even with my glasses.

Both Jet and Droy came closer to us two, who were rigorously trying to figure this mystery out.

"Leave it to her to sort these things out, never gets a word wrong when it comes to it."

"Yeah, she looks so focused, too." Subsequently, the two male Shadow Gears started cheering Levy on like they were applying for the varsity cheerleading event in a generic high school. Obviously, I was left dumbfounded by this certain switch in their attitudes.

"Uhhhh, I doubt that's going to help her." My words were apparently invisible as they continued with their ridiculous display like nothing happened.

"I got it!" Levy announced suddenly, startling me just slightly. Her two friends congratulated her achievements with drinking bar level of chants.

All of a sudden, the letters moved along with Levy's pointed index finger, like she was tracing the message for us simpletons to understand. One by one the letters started to formed comprehensible words for us to read.

" _Shall the light of Luna fall upon this place, the rocks of old shall cleanse the forest in its wake."_

These words were spoken by the very person who translated them. At first, it seemed like a bunch of gibberish. But giving them some more thought, it made a heck of a lot more sense. What followed was my personal conclusion.

"So does that mean if it's night-time, the golem will awaken?" Levy seemed impressed with my answer, contrastingly, Jet and Droy were left scratching their heads.

"And hoooow did you get to that exactly?" The former of the male wizards spoke, to which I responded with a puzzled look of my own.

"Um, is it not obvious? Luna? Meaning the moon? Golems are made out of rocks from eons ago? This forest is protected by some guardian?" Maybe they weren't the brightest apples of the bunch, but they still should've been able to decipher that. Actually, that wouldn't be fair since I recently went over these types of facts in my notebook on the way here. Hmm, I guess it was just luck.

"He's right." Never mind then. "It fits right along with old history: nowadays, Blackroot is just a place which inspires campfire stories, back then, it wasn't all that scary. It's sad that a place that was once so beautiful became a victim of change. This golem here? Maybe it still resides over this forest, despite how bleak it is today." That explanation sparked something in me, something which said 'maybe we shouldn't fight this golem'. After all, if we defeated something this important, wouldn't we be doing more harm than good?

Which begs the question: why does our client basically want this thing gone? Think about it, we're being asked to take what's probably the guardian's life force and essentially sell it to him for money. How morally wrong is that? Besides, if this golem is stripped of its life, who knows what kind of consequences it'll cause for the forest and, by chain effect, the people who assigned us.

"Should we head back to the hut?" I spoke with a sullen tone, disappointed by a failed result. All of Team Shadow Gear immediately looked at me in shock.

"How come? We got this far, we might as well finish it." Droy argued. My words weren't being spoken because I wasn't scared for myself, I was scared for the people who had faith in me: Levy, Jet, Droy, the cranky old man back in the forest.

"Because…I think this is something our employer needs to know. If what Levy says is true, we would be doing them less of a favour than they want."

"Well we're staying here til nightfall, I'm sorry but we're not letting a mission this well-paying slip past us like this, we've already made that mistake before." That just left Levy as the only one to make an argument.

"Rai, it'll be fine, I mean the old man hired us for a reason, huh? They knew what they were asking for at the very beginning." Levy wrapped her hand around my bandaged arm, triggering a nostalgic feeling to a few days ago when she did the exact same action. At this moment, her eyes spoke to me like she did back then.

" _At least let me try and help"_ Echoing words returned to my brain, sending a wake-up call to my paranoia. The only thing that left my mouth was a doubtful sigh.

"I'll get the firewood." I strolled back towards the set of trees I probably should have hid behind when we had that race, if I could. Checking a certain sense, I gave myself a quick sniff. "Urgh! That stinks! I'm gonna throw up!"

* * *

 **Nightfall…**

Sessions of being pressure washed by Levy's magic later, the ground supported my usual stargazing posture. Ironically, this was a position that wasn't that uncommon, I used it only a few days ago during my training, except it wasn't exactly the correct time of the day to do so. Normally, it was once every few weeks to took to being mesmerised by the diamonds of the night sky.

What kinda tainted this unique process was the occasional sensation of leftover water running down my skin, the hairs springing up. At least Droy and I got rid of that pesky stench. Right? There wasn't exactly a way of knowing without testing it out on another individual, however, I wasn't currently ready to disgust another human on Earthland.

Crackling of firewood mixed with the sound of crickets fleeted into my hearing, warming me up inside. Somehow we managed to get the campfire working with hollow branches and without magic. Hey, in a world filled with magic, there's nothing wrong with a bit of manual labour every now and again.

"What'cha doing there, Rai?" Craning my head sideways, a petite girl with azure locks towered over me. The very sight of said person triggered monstrous levels of cringe on my face. Oh god, not more!

"Agh! Don't blast me again! I surrender!" Horrid memories of almost drowning in magical water flew around my brain, making me hate the following letters:

W-A-T-E-R

The fellow script mage took juvenile entertainment out of my words, giggling slightly.

"Hehe, relax. I made sure I got every last spot." She settled beside me, joining my casual viewing of the stars.

"That's exactly why I'm scared. You blasted water at me and Droy for like an hour each. By some miracle, I hope I won't have to go through that again."

"Oh come on, you over exaggerate."

"Levy, over exaggerating is what I do better than fighting, does that seriously not tell you how much I suck?"

"Well if you make a mistake, me, Jet and Droy will support you."

"By the way you're saying it it seems like _I'm_ the leader of the pack."

"We're a team, remember? If we work like one, there's nothing that can go horribly wrong."

Seeing how positive she was about all this, it made me realise. Since the start of this mission, pretty much nothing has gone right. Getting to Blackroot was crampy, the very person who hired treated us like expendable soldiers, and half of our team got wiped out just getting up a hill. We haven't even got to fighting the boss yet.

Geez I'm such a complainer.

"How do you manage to stay so positive like this? It's the exact opposite for me." Levy replied with a marginally soft exclaimation.

"Good question. I guess I just try to look at the bright side as much as possible. I know that not everyone does that and they still get along just fine."

"Come to think of it, I'm the kind of man who expects the worst, but hopes for the best. Did any of that make any sense?"

"It suits who you are at least." That statement made me put on a mischievous smile, like I inferred a kind of tiny insult in her words. I rotated myself onto my side, resting on a single hand propped up by my elbow.

"And what does _that_ supposed to mean?" To that came a confused 'huh?' from Levy.

"Er, nothing. It's just that you're prepared for whatever the world has to offer. I could see that you really want to know more about Earthland, don't you?" Out of all the possibilities, she was absolutely spot on. Limitless is the only word to describe how much about the world I desired to learn about: wildlife, different cultures, magic, all that stuff. Sure, it's next to impossible to learn _every single thing_ about Earthland, but that doesn't mean I can't learn a bit of it, even if it's only a single percentage.

I know it sounds like a cliché, but I have a dream. Actually, I would find it ridiculous if anyone didn't have a dream. Mine is just one out of millions, if not billions of hopes and desires that the human race possesses: my dream isn't to find the ultimate treasure, become the king of anything, or even to become the most powerful or prestigious person of my talent.

My dream…

Is to learn whatever Mother Nature has to throw at me. It's the very least I could do for being brought up to such an incredible world. For now, I'll have to start making my own way, which was exactly what I've been doing since I joined Fairy Tail.

" _Mom? Dad? I wish you're hoping for me from wherever you are, as much as I hope that you're both okay."_

…

"Rai? Are you there?" Suddenly, I woke from some weird slumber, like my mind drifted off from being so tired, to see a waving hand in front of my eyes.

"Eh?! I'm fine, ma'am!" A hand was instantly raised to my head in the form of a salute. My stargazing buddy breathed a sigh of relief. After a few seconds of silence, if it wasn't for crickets being crickets, I finally answered her question. "Yeah, as much as I can, at least. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten so many damn books from the library on my first visit" For once, I laughed, I feeling I haven't had much of recently.

"Same here. My life's been filled with books since I was a little girl. Well, I still am. That just shows how much I still need to learn." Her head turned over, her blue eyes filled with aspiration meeting mine filled ambition. "If I can use that knowledge to help my friends, I couldn't be any more happier."

Once again, a rare expression was graced upon. A heart-warmed smile. Another person, a girl no less, who wishes for knowledge over power for the sake of those closest to her.

I truly live in a world that was almost as small as her, funnily enough.

"Well, I wish you luck on your journey, Levy McGarden."

"Me too, Rai Bluzen."

…

For a fleeting moment, her itty-bitty tiny nose twitched. Subsequently, she brought her hand up to her face, pinching the very body part which moved so suddenly.

"Um, when we get back, you should probably take a shower."

"Seriously?! The smell is still not coming out! Urgh, this is terrible." Finding whatever occurrence to distract me from this awkward situation, my eyes flashed towards a rolling blanket of silver light removing the darkness. "The moon's coming out"

"It sure is beautiful."

"That's not the point I was trying to make!" Levy's face switched from one of enlightenment to one of minor dread.

"You mean…" I nodded vertically as a response. Looking over to the pillar, the golden light combined with the moon's silver rays. Almost like the conjunction of the sun and moon itself was happening right before our eyes.

Immediately, we jumped up from our leisurely positions and made a dash towards Jet and Droy who were a fair distance away.

"Guys! Wake up! It's happening!" Of course, they were bear snoring. Sleep is a major necessity for all of us, but this is just ridiculous!

Thankfully, they woke up as soon as we yelled out, instantly noticing the blinding explosion of light occurring in front of them.

One by one, each mossy rock started to levitate like there was zero gravity. With each slotting of the giant jigsaw puzzle came a mighty crash, echoing through the evening sky and scaring any birds or creatures who dwelled on this hilltop. Eventually, the titanic creature which was prophesised in the job request was completed for us to see: three gaps which counted as eyes and a mouth glowed with gold, its feet and hands were humanoid but were completely flat and gigantic (probably big enough to squash all four of us), and the effects of years of slumber was show through the worn, beaten colouring of mossy stone.

Seeing us with those flashlights for eyes, it roared with anger, most likely maddened by the rebellion of mere humans in its wake.

Remember when I said I figured out the structure of these missions? Well there was one step I missed out. The single most important step which applied to every single scenario; it also applied to a lot of other situations besides wizard jobs.

Step four: **DON'T DIE**

* * *

 **(Ending Theme: Boku No Hero Academia ED 1 – "HEROES" By "Brian The Sun")**

 **(Mirajane and Makarov speaking)**

 **Mirajane: *Humming to music* Oh morning, Master! How did it go?**

 **Makarov: Hmm? Ah, you mean that? Well, it meant much better than expected"**

 **Mirajane: That's good! I'm sure they'll have a lot to say when they come back,** _ **if**_ **they come back.**

 **Makarov: And why's that?"**

 **NEXT TIME: "Stuck Between A Rock and Three Gears"**

 **Mirajane: Did you not read the job request? They're going to the forbidden forest of Blackroot! Isn't that exciting?!**

 **Makarov: THEY'RE DOING WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"**

* * *

 **11 MS Word pages? Not bad when it comes to my standards XD**

 **Please PM me if you have any ideas or improvements to suggest to me! All feedback is appreciated!**

 **I hope you enjoyed! See you next time!**


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